THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 67 lines
Mayor Paul D. Fraim suggested a compromise Tuesday that could clear the way to turn the Comfort Inn on Tidewater Drive into a Salvation Army homeless shelter and training center.
Fraim suggested that the project be done in phases, and the City Council delayed voting on the necessary rezoning for a month to discuss the compromise.
About 40 people spoke on the subject during the council meeting.
The proposal to convert the property has raised concerns among neighboring property owners and residents, who fear a homeless shelter will lower property values.
Community leaders, however, have argued for the plan, saying that the growing problem demands attention. Fraim cautioned that even with the extra time, he could not predict whether a majority of the council would back the project.
Fraim said the city had an obligation to help the Salvation Army find a better home.
``The city off Norfolk does not have public buildings for the homeless precisely because we have urged private bodies like the Salvation Army to take up this burden,'' Fraim said.
The Planning Commission last month voted against the project, and city staff has recommended against it as well.
The proposal by the Salvation Army would turn the Comfort Inn at Tidewater Drive and Virginia Beach Boulevard into a center for the homeless. When fully used it would have 77 beds for men, 43 for women and 23 spaces for families - with a maximum of 195 people at any one time.
Most of the beds or spaces would be for longer-term ``transitional housing,'' where residents would go to work, school or job training and prepare for moving to a permanent home.
The center would house a social service center, administrative offices and possibly a medical clinic.
Supporters say the demand for services by the homeless and needy has more than doubled in the past few years. One speaker said requests for emergency help from the Salvation Army went from 15,000 in 1989 to 43,000 in 1995.
Supporters also said the area around the center has the highest concentration of people who need such services, according to a tracking of people the group served in past years. Because of this, the center could decrease crime and other problems, they said.
But opponents said a homeless shelter would bring down surrounding property values.
Ulysses S. Turner, chairman of the Norfolk School Board and a nearby property owner, has led much of the fight against the project. Turner said a large number of homeless could produce ``a St. Petersburg situation,'' referring to the recent riot in Florida.
``We don't want our business burned, we don't want our houses burned,'' Turner said.
Opponents noted that nearby neighborhoods, such as Huntersville and Barberton, are struggling for economic and social stability.
``This is my first home,'' said Alvin Lee, who lives two blocks from the inn. ``I take care of my home. We don't need any more problems around here.''
But project supporters said that property values along 21st Street and in residential areas in Ghent have risen in the years of co-existence with a shelter at 19th Street.
Capt. Rick Mikles of the Salvation Army said his organization would accept phasing in the project over six years. In the initial years, the shelter would contain less than half the full capacity.
Most of the people the Salvation Army serves meals to are not homeless, but are working poor who can't make ends meet, said a Salvation Army official.
KEYWORDS: HOMELESS SHELTER PROPOSED by CNB