Zoning Board Approves Variance For Homeless Center Project

During the Zoning Board of Appeals’ special meeting Thursday night, there was an unanimous approval of a variance allowing the to run a Respite Center within 500 feet of a play area.

The respite center is a temporary rehabilitation facility and will be at the at 730 State Pier Road, which is close to playgrounds at , located at 327 Huntington St. and a nearby housing project.

Catherine Zall, executive director of the hospitality center, was happy that the variance was approved. This was the first time going before the appeals board for this variance, she said.

Zall said the next step is to go before the planning and zoning commission on July 14 with an application for a 25 bed shelter and the daytime hospitality center, which will be at the same location as the respite center, at 730 State Pier Road.

Zall said if the commission approves the shelter and hospitality center, she will have to come back before the appeals board to ask for permission to actually put the respite center at 730 State Pier Road.

Lawyer Timothy D. Bates, who represents Zall, told the board that a respite center is needed for individuals with mental or physical distress who are in need of 24-hour supervision and a place to recover.

Bates said the center will be dealing with people coming from the hospital that have no one to go home to or no home to go to.

The respite center is not a homeless shelter and will be located on a different floor of the facility then where the shelter and hospitality center will be.

Zall told the board the respite center will be able to “offer people a place to stay and recuperate.”

There were two hospital employees who support the respite center mentioned before the board.

Gladys Morales, a social worker at , told the board that “an individual without a home who has no where to rest during the day and needs to walk miles each day to access food and services, recovery becomes much more difficult.”

Vice President of Development and Community Relations at L&M, wrote a letter in support for the respite center and mentioned that it was so important to the hospital that it has made a financial contribution to it.

Commission members brought up safety and co-habitation questions. Chairperson Ann Keating said that they were good questions, but wasn’t under the commission’s purview for the variance.