Plan for Teen-Agers Shelter Meets Opposition

The city’s downtown redevelopment agency has joined developers and residents of an exclusive condominium complex in opposing a plan by the St. Vincent de Paul Center to build a shelter for homeless teen-agers in an empty warehouse in the Marina area.

Father Joe Carroll is expected to address a meeting of the Centre City Development Corp. today, where CCDC executives are likely to go on record opposing the project. The San Diego Planning Commission unanimously approved the project, called Teen Quest, at its Jan. 10 meeting.

Pamela Hamilton, CCDC’s executive vice president, said the agency opposes the shelter because it fails to fit in with plans for redevelopment of the block where it will be located. The shelter site is at 633 State St.

Hamilton also said that residents of the nearby Meridian condominium complex have “trepidations about how (the shelter) might work out.” Units in the Meridian sell for $300,000 and $1 million.

Developer John D. Thelan, whose company, Odmark & Thelan, is building the 96-unit Watermark condominium project a block away from the Teen Quest site, said the shelter is incompatible with the city’s redevelopment plans for the area.

Teen Quest will actually be situated across the street from Columbia Place, an award-winning, 103-unit condominium project also built by Odmark & Thelan. Columbia Place was honored last year by the Urban Land Institute with an Award for Excellence. The project was honored for helping to revitalize downtown San Diego and providing affordable housing.

“The (redevelopment) plan for the area . . . contemplated this as all-residential. The city created the Marina area because they wanted a downtown neighborhood,” Thelan said. “We feel the city should follow the redevelopment plan.”

Units in the Watermark complex will sell for about $300,000, he said.

Harvey Mandel, St. Vincent de Paul Center assistant director in charge of development, scoffed at opponents of the project and said the real reason they oppose it is because they are afraid Teen Quest will lower property values in the area.

“They’re pretty blatant about it. I’ve heard it sugar-footed, but that’s what it boils down to,” Mandel said.

In fact, some letters and memos written in opposition to the project suggest that “investments may be impaired” if the shelter is built.

At issue is Father Carroll’s plans to build a home for 30 homeless teens. According to Mandel, the home will house 15 boys and 15 girls from 14 to 18 years old. The teens will be allowed to live up to two years at the home, he added.

The Planning Commission approved a three-year conditional-use permit, but Mandel said St. Vincent de Paul received a $2.1-million federal grant to fund the program for up to five years. He added the CCDC has known about the project for at least six months and criticized the agency for voicing opposition “at the last minute.”

However, Hamilton said that a CCDC subcommittee recommended that the agency’s board of directors oppose the project when officials belatedly learned that Father Carroll would try to get the permit renewed.

“The permit was for a three-year period, but Father Carroll said he would be looking for renewals. . . . He has operating funds for five years. It made me realize that the group would be looking to stay there as long as possible,” Hamilton said. “ . . . My instinct and knowledge tell me that this kind of facility is not located in residential areas. They’re located in commercial areas.”

Mandel said he expected opposition to the project and said most objections and fears voiced by opponents were taken into consideration in designing the program. The home will have 24-hour security, “not to keep the kids in, but to keep bad influences away,” he said.

In addition, the home will be staffed by 22 people, including at least three staff members at night, when the curfew will be 10 p.m. St. Vincent de Paul will sponsor a school at the site, which will be administered by the County Board of Education, Mandel said.

The program will include job training, life-skills training, and drug and alcohol counseling for teen-agers who need it, he added.

“The kids will come from other local agencies in town. These are not court-mandated kids. These are not kids who are in trouble with the law. They’re not being dumped on us by the courts. . . . We think this home will upgrade the community. All they have now is an empty warehouse at the site,” Mandel said.

“Homeless teen-agers are an enormous problem, and it’s not getting taken care of,” he added. “There are 400 or 500 kids living on the streets in San Diego, and we’re proposing to only take care of 30.”

John Fraser, president of the Meridian Residential Assn., said his group does not oppose the concept of a home for homeless teen-agers but opposes the location for Teen Quest.

“We want to be perfectly clear we’re not opposing the concept. We’re opposing the location. The whole area was set up by the city for us to become a good residential area. We don’t think this is an appropriate facility to put into a fairly fragile environment that is struggling to become a first-class residential area,” Fraser said.

Thelan’s company has appealed the issuance of the permit for the Teen Quest shelter. The City Council will hear the appeal at its March 19 meeting.