Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100500
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER/ SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: GALAX LENGTH: Medium
"I'm very gratified by the decision," said the Rev. Standrod Carmichael, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, which established the shelter several years ago. "I wish that we didn't need a hostel. Unfortunately, we do."
Most of the 40 people attending the meeting applauded after the vote.
Several neighbors of the Hostel of the Good Shepherd on Center Street had complained about it to the Planning Commission when the hostel's conditional permit came up for renewal March 26. Complaints included noise, pranks, bad language and parking congestion.
Commission members deadlocked then 2-2 on closing the shelter, with two members absent and one abstaining. They postponed a second vote until Tuesday.
Zoning Administrator Zack Kyle gave two reports to the commission that it had wanted before making a decision.
In one, Police Chief B.R. Melton reported that a files search showed no complaints related to the hostel over three months last year.
The other report was a breakdown of how many area residents had used the shelter: 88 from Galax, 29 from Grayson County and 39 from Carroll County. Ninety-nine others came from outside the Twin County region.
Horace Cochran moved that a conditional permit be granted for another year. Roger Martin amended the motion to include a review of the permit in six months. They were the two commission members who had supported the hostel last time.
The opponents last time had been Jimmy Ballard and Chairman Ron Catron, who voted the same way this time.
Ballard read a statement in which he said people in "one of the oldest and most stable neighborhoods in Galax" assumed they were protected by zoning laws.
Ballard, who has a real estate company, said the fact that he has a house for sale across from the hostel did not influence his stand.
He also said people misunderstood his position if they thought he was against the hostel. "If the hostel were to close, I'd be the first to step forward and try to find another location, and I'd do it without a commission. And I'm serious," he said.
Catron said he was concerned that residents of the shelter were not supervised on a 24-hour basis. He said the hostel had structured supervision only 25 percent of the time.
Kyle, who had abstained from voting last time, supported the new permit Tuesday. So did Elizabeth Vaughan and Jack E. "Jay" Guynn Jr., who had not been at the last meeting.
Vaughan did so with misgivings. "I never expected it to be a permanent home for the hostel when we started it," she said. "We kind of OK'd it at the time because it was such a good service. It's not zoned for that sort of thing."
She suggested "that some serious thought be put into changing the location of the hostel in the near future."
Guynn, a city councilman and commission member who is resigning, cast what may be his last commission vote - in support of the hostel. He said commission members would prefer a different location, but Center Street was where it is and it had provided shelter for 156 Twin County citizens who were temporarily homeless.
Carmichael said afterward that some commission members made it sound like the hostel needed someone to police its residents, but they are guests responsible for their own conduct. Those who did not abide by hostel rules are put out, he said.
"The church is right next door to it. That's why we bought it. It is an extension of the church's ministry," he said.
by CNB