Local News in Brief : Laguna Beach : Council Approves Site for Homeless Shelter

By a 4-1 vote, the City Council has approved the concept of opening a shelter for the homeless at an unused municipal landfill near the intersection of Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads.

The decision authorizes Friendship Shelter Inc., a nonprofit group that formerly ran a shelter at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, to act as the city’s agent in developing the 2.9-acre site at 20548 Laguna Canyon Road into a facility for 25 people.

Mayor Neil Fitzpatrick said the council approved the plan over the objections of some residents because “we in government have a responsibility to address the (homelessness) issue, as well as the issue that no one really wants that sort of a project in his neighborhood.”

To respond to residents’ concerns that a shelter would bring an undesirable crowd into their neighborhood, Fitzpatrick said the council had dictated that any city money allocated for the shelter be used to mitigate the consequences of the shelter’s presence.

He said the funds would go to such items as police and fire protection--”Things that would help the shelter but would also help the community.”

City Clerk Verna Rollinger said Tuesday night’s action follows a May 19 council decision to study using the landfill for a homeless shelter. She said Friendship Shelter is committed to spending nearly $200,000 to open the shelter.

Although the landfill is owned by the city, it is on unincorporated land. Thus, the approval of Orange County officials will be needed before the shelter can open. Fitzpatrick said that he expects local residents to carry their objections to the Board of Supervisors and that it might be as long as a year before the shelter can open.