Aliyya Swaby Photo
Bartlett and MacMullen at the zoning board Tuesday night.
Homeless teens will soon have more options for a safe, warm bed to spend the night, thanks to a zoning board vote Tuesday night.
The Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved the city’s request for a special exception to open a 15-bed residential shelter on the first floor of The Escape, a Dixwell teen drop-in activity center at 654 Orchard St. The center is expected to open in March.
Bethel AME Church owns the property and is leasing 23,000 square feet to the city, including 900 square feet for the shelter’s sleeping area and bathing facilities.
A week after receiving a major donation from Wells Fargo Bank to run the center, city officials approached zoning commissioners for permission to open it.
The shelter will be “almost self-contained” with adjacent mental health and medical health areas, as well as its own entrance and exit, said William MacMullen, the city’s capital projects coordinator.
The 15 beds will be for young men between the ages of 17 and 24, said Jason Bartlett, city director of youth services. The intent of the center is to provide the teens a “transition” to employment, housing and higher education.
Will the teens sleeping in the shelter be dumped on the streets in early morning? asked Board Chair Pat King.
No, Bartlett responded. The activity center will have programming for the entire day, as well as two full kitchens. “it will be a vibrant kind of building,” he said.
One neighbor was not convinced. Mary Brown (pictured) rattled off a list of alternative spaces the shelter could go, including empty property at River Street, Poplar Street and Grand Avenue. She said the teens would lead to “drugs” and “homes being broken into.”
“To put them in my backyard? I don’t think so,” she said.
Organizers of The Escape responded that the center, based on New York City’s “The Door,” is intended to help keep kids on the right path. (Read a story about the full project here.)
The more than 400 homeless teens in the city need more beds and “wraparound services” to help them “prep for self-sufficiency,” said Meredith Benson, who will head the shelter for Bethel.
Bartlett addressed Brown directly when he promised the shelter will be “good” to and for its neighbors. “I want to validate your concerns,” he said. About $400,000 will be put into “beautification and security,” including setting up cameras connected to the city’s central system, he said.