The future is not promising for a plan to build a homeless rehabilitation facility in the Mapaville area between Festus and Hillsboro.
After a public hearing on Oct. 27, the Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-2 against recommending the proposal submitted by New Hope Fellowship Church in High Ridge.
About 150 people attended the public hearing at the Jefferson County Administration Center in Hillsboro, with some supporting the rezoning request and others opposing it.
New Hope officials are asking the county to rezone 28.19 acres at 3627 Baptist Park Road from single-family residential to planned mixed use to accommodate the homeless rehab facility, which would be named the New Hope Outreach Center.
The P and Z board advises the Jefferson County Council on land-use issues. The County Council, which has the authority to rezone land in unincorporated areas, will consider a resolution to deny the request, likely at a meeting in November.
The site is now owned by Jefferson Baptist Association. The lot includes three buildings and ballfields that formerly were used by the group of Baptist churches.
Pastor Dan Ross, who is leading the project, has said the sale of the property is contingent upon Jefferson County officials approving a rezoning request to allow the facility.
Ross and his group are proposing to build the facility in phases, and if fully built out, it would include residential facilities, a medical-dental office, a long-term care treatment structure, a building for employment training and an office.
He said there would be only one entrance in and out of the site, off Baptist Park Road, and there would be an intake station at the gate.
Ross said the facility would be staffed around the clock, with trained security on the premises overnight.
He said although his church is taking the lead on the project, New Hope Fellowship is not the only entity that would be involved.
“We joined a homeless coalition about a year and a half ago with Comtrea, the Jefferson County Health Department, the Jefferson-Franklin Community Action Corporation and Mercy Hospital Jefferson (in Crystal City). We would all be involved. If there’s anything we’ve learned from those discussions, it is that there’s a need for services for homeless people in Jefferson County.”
Casey Kindt, a member of the pastoral staff at New Hope Fellowship who would serve as the New Hope Outreach Center’s executive director, said she has been told that Comtrea has assisted 352 different homeless people so far this year and is on track to help 469 before Dec. 31.
“One is too many, and 469 is absurd,” she said.
Dan Govero of Govero Land Services in Imperial, who represented New Hope at the hearing before the P and Z board, said the project is a unique one.
“This site has not been used for years. But it suits us just fine,” he said. “There’s only one entrance in and out, and the rest will be fenced. The woods in the back serve as a buffer, and we’ll add other buffers as we need it. There’s a lot of open space. Things won’t get crammed in.”
He mentioned that the area is home to plenty of other nonprofits, including Pony Bird Inc., NextStep for Life (now part of Pony Bird) and the Mapaville State School.
“We’re near NextStep for Life, which is appropriate,” Govero said. “Our goal is to provide a next step for homeless people.”
However, Sara Sucharski, president and CEO of Pony Bird, said she doesn’t agree that the site is suitable for a homeless center.
“We have an appreciation and knowledge of the need in our community, but we have individuals coming 24-7,” she said. “We are a safe neighbor. Our clientele does not pose a risk. Never in our history has any of our clients posed a danger to the community.”
When asked about whether the presence of the Pony Bird facility affected residential property values in the area, Sucharski noted that most homes in Mapaville were built around Pony Bird after it was established in the 1960s.
Two local attorneys who own property near the site also questioned whether a homeless rehab facility belonged in the neighborhood.
“Is this the right location?” asked Bianca Tullock, who said she lives 1,400 feet from the site. “This is not a lockdown facility. Pony Bird works with the physically disabled. A homeless shelter deals with people, some of whom have mental health issues. When people leave, there are no shoulders to walk on along Hwy. Z and Hwy. A. There’s nothing around there.”
Ross said that residents of the homeless facility would be allowed to leave if they wish and shuttle buses would be available to provide a ride.
He said he didn’t believe the facility would lead to an influx of homeless pedestrians wandering around on state highways and in residential neighborhoods.
“If I can offer them transportation to where they ask to go, why would they walk 6 miles to any location?”
Michele Kaido Schwent, who said she owns parts of two parcels adjacent to the site, contended that property values would suffer if the homeless center were built.
“There’s no question that homeless services have a place in this county, but there are questions whether this is the right location,” she said. “Wherever these kinds of facilities exist, homeless people (setting up outside the facility) follow, and then crime ensues. Not only do property values plummet when these facilities come in, but public safety does as well.”
Ross said the rural setting of the facility would discourage others from camping around it.
“We have letters from three local Realtors who say that this will definitely not lower property values,” he said. “There is a drug rehab facility in the High Ridge area, Adult and Teen Challenge, and a Comtrea office is nearby. It’s down from Walden Pond, which is a low-income housing development. But all that’s in the area with the highest-valued homes in High Ridge.”
Melinda Glass, who also has property near the area, questioned why Ross and New Hope don't locate the center on its campus in High Ridge.
“(The church) sits on 80 acres in High Ridge, but he doesn’t want to use that,” Glass said. “He says he needs a central location. High Ridge is very centrally located. And why are we as a county not consulted in the location for this?”
Kindt said the decision on a location was a consensus.
“What we’ve heard a lot is, ‘Why Mapaville?’ We have had discussions with our homeless coalition partners, and they said any homeless rehabilitation facility would have to be somewhere where we all could help you,” she said. “This is not New Hope Fellowship. This is Jefferson County. We have to do something about the homeless. It’s time.”
Ross said he’s not an outsider to Mapaville.
“I grew up nine-tenths of a mile from this area. I know it very well,” he said. “I did not think that we would get this kind of reaction when we’re trying to help.”
Ross said the type of facility that is being envisioned would work best in a residential setting.
“These are residents of Jefferson County. Why should they not live in a residential area? We don’t want them in a commercial area,” he said. “They are people who have fallen onto some bad times. We believe this is the best place to help a super-vulnerable population. We have an opportunity to set the standard on how we treat people in Jefferson County.”
Planning commissioner Danny Tuggle made a motion to recommend approval of the rezoning request, but it was voted down 4-2.
“We do have this problem, this homeless thing is here, all day long,” Tuggle said. “The question is, what are we going to do about it? Someone, some organization needs to step up and say, ‘Let me do this. Let me try.’ I feel we have a group of people who are trying to do some good work.”
However, only planning commissioner Larry Adkins joined him in voting for the rezoning, while planning commissioners Tim Dugan, Greg Bowers, Chris Hastings and Mike Huskey cast dissenting votes.
Huskey then made a motion to recommend denial of the request, and the vote was 4-2, with Tuggle and Atkins dissenting.
Huskey said he didn’t believe Mapaville was the correct location for the facility.
“I was concerned about the area,” he said. “I don’t believe it suited the area. Pony Bird is there, and I guess my experience from past years (in his 29-year career with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office) had a little influence in my decision.”
Ross emphasized that the New Hope Outreach Center would fill a pressing need.
“Not one person who spoke (in opposition to the rezoning) said we didn’t need to do something about homelessness,” he said.