HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-30-19 Public Comment - E. Schumann-2 - HRDC Warming Center SiteFrom:Errol Schumann
To:Agenda
Subject:HRDC - Homeless Shelter -Not in my Back Yard!
Date:Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:37:29 AM
HRDC Homeless Shelter NOT IN MY BACK YARD! 10/27/2019
To City Planning and our City Commissioners:
It is true, I as a resident homeowner in Figgins Subdivision am a NIMBY. My wife and I have
searched high and low for 3 years to be able to afford a home in a safe, single-family zonedresidential neighborhood that our children could grow up in. A place where they could play
freely and safely with other neighborhood children and classmates. As much as I wouldlove to see the HRDC succeed in providing a place for those in need to have warm shelter, I
do not want it in our single-family neighborhood full of elementary and middle schoolchildren playing at the school grounds, a dark and overgrown park and all the family homes
between.
36 unrelated PEOPLE PER NIGHT!!! This is a hotel, or more a hostel, not a compatible R-1
single family use. Our home in the same zoning is only allowed to have 4 unrelatedpeople. This could potentially allow for thousands of users a year under one roof!!! This is
more than residents in our entire subdivision. Will the City Planning Department allow me torent to 6 unrelated next week? or 20? 36???? They will all have background checks and
make sure that they are compatible with our safe, neighborhood full of roaming childrenplaying and having fun together.
Many of these "women and families" mentioned in this fast-tracked plan are victims of
domestic violence. We do not want our neighborhood to be a target for these situations andtheir aggressors. There are no background checks or applications for those staying at this
shelter. Sex offenders, violent offenders, and others would be allowed to stay right next tounlocked school and school grounds full of vulnerable elementary and middle school
children. Is this even allowable under Montana law?
Will HRDC pay to build security an house an officer at the schools?
At the HRDC Men's shelter police were called on an average of 2 times per week last
year. HRDC will "check weapons at the door." Really? So they expect these users to becarrying weapons and they will just keep the arsenal in a safe place on a nightly
basis? Currently, the HRDC has no committed plans for the future and this could turn in to ayear-round men's shelter. Again, NIMBY. Not next to our kids' school. Not in the
neighborhood our children and hundreds of other youth play and learn every day.
I work often at the Library and spend a lot of personal time there. I share this public space
with many homeless who need a warm place to spend the day. There are often very scary anduncomfortable scenarios I have personally experienced as a grown man. At times wondering
if I was safe going to the bathroom while homeless users experience delusional episodes werein the same restroom. The police have an office on site for this reason! About 2 weeks ago I
watched 2 police officers searching the property next to the Library with hands on theirpistols ready to draw. I can only imagine this scenario at my childrens' school full of hundreds
of vulnerable elementary students and teachers and police entering the building to apprehendthe wrong person who was attracted to the neighborhood by the HRDC's shelter.
Designated smoking area at the shelter? Really? Sorry neighbors and school kids, you canhave secondhand smoke designated next door Its only 36 people a day though. The HRDC
should ban smoking at their shelters. This addictive drug costs these people lots of money andhealth and time that they could use toward figuring out their financially challenged situations.
HRDC cannot enforce people to stay at the shelter once they have arrived so it is very likely
that we will have people with no place to go roaming the neighborhood on daily and nightlybasis. This neighborhood has no or limited street lights. Something that we have come to
love to gaze at stars in our safe neighborhood. Not something that we would fear withthousands of potential new transient visitors in our neighborhood which combined houses
FEWER RESIDENTS in a calendar year! Our off the beaten path neighborhood has verylittle police activity. Our understanding is that there is no security at the shelter. This
neighborhood has no street lights and very little police presence. There is a park up the streetwhich neighborhood children frequent and play their games. This single -family
neighborhood is the wrong place for a homeless shelter.
Additionally there is nonpublic transit in the neighborhood. Those homeless families willhave to walk the cold streets for over a mile to catch a bus.
This whole public notice and application process has been expedited and done with as little
notice as possible as HRDC realizes the many conflicts of interest of their plan with theneighboring schools and family residences, family investments, and zoning. Please NO NOT
APPROVE a Special Use Permit for this scary and incompatible use in our neighborhood. Ifully support the HRDC's goal of helping to house those in need but truly do not want this
housing in my back yard. I am okay to admit that I am a NIMBY when it comes to a homelessshelter a few blocks from my home and a few hundred feet from my children's school.
Thank you for considering my and many others' very valid concerns.
With Gratitude,
Errol Schumann
504 Cutting Street - Figgins Subdivision
Bozeman, MT
59715