The Jefferson County Council has officially denied plans to convert a long-vacant motel and restaurant north of Hillsboro into a transitional housing center for people who are homeless.
The council voted 4-3 on Monday to deny a conditional-use permit that would have allowed the New Hope Outreach Center, described as a religious sanctuary and rehabilitation center, to open the facility on the site of the former Opal’s Motel and Restaurant at 9637 Old Hwy. 21.
A standing-room-only crowd of about 150 people jammed into the Jefferson County Administration Center in Hillsboro, and before the vote was taken, 49 of them told the County Council they supported New Hope’s plans, while another 49 said they opposed the center.
Council members Gene Barbagallo (District 2, Imperial), Shannon Otto (District 3, Arnold), Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) and Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs) voted against the permit. Those who voted to approve the permit were Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge), Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) and Dan Stallman (District 6, De Soto).
Pastor Dan Ross of New Hope Fellowship Church in High Ridge, which led a coalition that would have run the center, said he felt betrayed by county officials.
“Planning and Zoning and (County Executive) Dennis Gannon said this was absolutely the best place to put this,” he said. “And I met with Bob Tullock (whose district includes the site) at Opal’s before we proceeded, and I told him if he wasn’t going to be open to this, if he was going to block it, we wouldn’t go forward. He said, ‘I’ll be open to this.’ He lied.”
Tullock said he was open to the idea.
“We met at Opal’s about a week after (New Hope) bought it,” Tullock said. “He asked if I would consider it. I said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll consider it, if you meet all the (county) requirements and you have to have the people in the area on board.”
As Tullock noted before Monday’s vote, most of the 49 people who spoke on Monday in favor of the center gave addresses more than 5 miles away from the site while nearly all of the 49 who spoke against it live nearby.
“Those are the people who live in my district, and I represent the people in this district,” he said.
None of the other council members who voted to deny the permit addressed the subject at the meeting. However, the three who voted in favor spoke passionately about their support.
The usually stoic Stallman took the lead.
“Last Thursday night I woke up at 3 a.m., and I rarely wake up in the middle of the night,” he said. “This was all I could think about, what we could do to help the homeless. Some of these people are veterans. We need to think about doing something.”
Seek lauded New Hope for trying to help those experiencing homelessness.
“I haven’t seen anybody else come before us to help the homeless except New Hope,” he said. “No one else is doing it. I don’t know why we have such a hard time with this.”
Haskins implored one of the four against the plans to consider abstaining, which would force Gannon into breaking a 3-3 tie.
“That’s something you can do to make a difference,” he said. “One vote tonight comes down to you.”
Gannon said he preferred the council make the decision.
“I was not elected to be a voting member of the council,” he said. “You need to vote and be responsible for your vote. In Jefferson County, we have a problem with the homeless, and that doesn’t mean you can’t make life better for them and help them.”
Ross said New Hope had collected between $75,000 and $100,000 in donations to renovate the Opal’s property.
“We’ve sent letters out to people who live all around the country who donated money to help us,” Ross said. “We’re offering it all back. We stopped asking once we started to run into trouble.”
The conditional-use permit would have allowed up to 20 homeless people to be housed at the center, although at first, only four people would be housed in one of the former motel buildings, with another four to eight once it was rehabbed.
New Hope officials said reaching the 20-person capacity was a long-range possibility, dependent on the donations collected to renovate or replace buildings on the site.
Tullock had said he had concerns that New Hope would not have a staff member on site around the clock until 10 people were housed there.
“We had that covered,” Ross said. “There’s a house back there. We could have put somebody back there from the start.”
Ross said the county’s rules said new evidence about the plans could not be offered after the July 13 public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission was held, but all the council members knew the group had made a concession to provide around-the-clock staffing.
“And if that was the issue, (the council) could have remanded it back to P and Z so that we could offer that as new evidence,” Ross said.
Any of the council members also could have amended the ordinance to allow the conditional-use permit with the requirement that it have around-the-clock staffing.
“I guess that would have been a possibility,” Tullock said after the meeting.
Ross said New Hope’s plans to rehab the restaurant as a religious sanctuary will proceed.
“We’re going to keep Opal’s and apply for the proper permits and meet all requirements to get it up to code so that we can hold services there,” he said.
Despite the disappointment – the second in a year after the County Council in November denied New Hope’s plans for a larger-scale facility on 28.19 acres on Baptist Park Road in the Mapaville area – Ross said he and his church will soldier on.
“Some of the people who spoke against the Mapaville plans said they were for helping the homeless, just not at that location,” he said. “But some of them came out to speak against the Opal’s project, too, so what does that tell you? Location isn’t the issue. You know, homeless people are not second-class citizens or criminals.
“What’s next for us? We’re going to do whatever we can to help the homeless. This is a sad day for Jefferson County,” he said. “The County Council may be unwilling to help the people of our county, but we’re not.”