THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996            TAG: 9609270524
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   60 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** CORRECTIONS The Norfolk Planning Commission voted 5-1, not 6-1, against a plan for a Salvation Army homeless shelter, as reported in Friday's MetroNews section. One of the commission's seven members was absent. Correction published, Saturday, September 28, 1996, p. A2< ***************************************************************** PROPOSED SALVATION ARMY CENTER SUFFERS SETBACK PLANNING PANEL LISTENS TO NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERS WHO SAY IT WOULD BRING PROBLEMS.

The drive by the Salvation Army to convert a motel into an expanded homeless shelter and social service center got a setback Wednesday when the Planning Commission recommended against the plan on a 6-1 vote.

On the same day, the commission also gave a favorable recommendation to the basic facade of the MacArthur Center mall. Designs for the color, material and landscaping of the mall will continue to be reviewed by the commission.

The Salvation Army wants to convert the Comfort Inn at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Tidewater Drive into the ``Center of Hope.'' Under the group's strict guidelines, up to 140 residents would have transitional housing, and 55 more could be housed overnight. Job training, day care and other programs would be based there.

The planned facility has the support of Norfolk Works, a job training program downtown, as well as a coalition of churches and several prominent business leaders. The Salvation Army has raised $2.7 million for the expansion effort. The organization says it helps 85,000 individuals a year, three-quarters of them from Norfolk.

The arguments for placing the shelter there are basically that the facility is the right size in the right location. Citing computerized records, Salvation Army officials say that as much as 85 percent of the organization's clients come from areas within or next to the motel's zip code.

``You always put a lighthouse in the middle of the rocks,'' said G.W. Brown, a board member of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and supporter of the project. ``You don't put it two or three miles off shore.''

But neighborhood leaders use similar statistics against the project. The fact that the area has Huntersville and other neighborhoods that are struggling to succeed, they say, argues against placing a facility near them that will attract more poor people and problems to the area.

``Fear is reigning in these communities,'' said Joshua Paige, president of the Inner-City Federation of Civic Leagues.

Another complaint was that such a facility would prompt surrounding cities to send their poor to Norfolk. Eloise La Beau, president of the Estabrook Civic League, said the project would become ``The East Coast drop-off point for the homeless.''

``Other cities need to do their fair share,'' La Beau said.

The council is expected to consider the project next month. City staff members have recommended against it, saying it puts too many poor people and services for them in one place. by CNB