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WILKES-BARRE — Residents saw a problem with the solution Marian Betances offered and opposed her proposal to establish a homeless shelter in a vacant building in South Wilkes-Barre.
The five-member Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday night voted unanimously to deny the application by The Gathering Place International Ministries for the 12-cot shelter at 220 Carey Ave.
The board provided no explanation for its decision, but of the approximately 40 people attending the hearing at City Hall a dozen people voiced their concerns that the shelter was not right for the neighborhood, home to daycare centers and along the route many students walked to Meyers High School and Kistler Elementary School.
The Christian-based ministry run by Betances sought a special exception to change the existing nonconforming use and allow the nonprofit organization to temporarily house men, women and children, provide daytime services for them and run a food pantry for the community. Her plans called for security at night and staff around at all times.
“I would love to still do it in Wilkes-Barre, but you know, I’ll take a vacation, take a week off, think it through and come back,” said Betances of Bethlehem.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Betances said, adding neither is the need to provide shelter to the homeless and feed the hungry.
“Coming here to Wilkes-Barre, I saw quite a desperate need for such a small town and thought this may work here because there’s a need,” said Betances, who also runs a daycare center on Empire Street.
Resident Daniel Langan of Wood Street told the board he’s had to install security cameras on the properties he owns because of the crime and had to remove homeless people from the area where the shelter wants to locate and clean up their mess.
“I cannot see bringing another element into the area, I’m going to call them different people. I could call them undesirables,” Langan said. “I don’t see anything but problems.”
The zoning application asked for the waiver of 21-required parking spaces on the property the ministry wanted to buy containing the two-story building proposed for the shelter and a single-story building adjacent to it. John Barker of Old River Road asked the board to consider what effect the food pantry proposed by the ministry would have on parking and traffic.
“So there’s a lot more going on than what the public was expecting with just a homeless shelter,” Barker said.
Amanda Mendoza added safety to her concern of how the shelter would affect the property value of her house on Elizabeth Street. She said she walks to Meyers where she teaches and so do many students.
“If they have to be gone during the day where are they going to hang out? Are they going to be going to the stores (in the neighborhood)? Are they going to be there when my kids are walking around?” Mendoza asked the board.
Homeless is not always a choice, Mendoza said. Some people fall on hard times, but other homeless people have mental health problems, she said.
“They’re going to be in my neighborhood walking around,” Mendoza said.