Homeless Shelter Rejected Pending Environmental Report

The City Council on Tuesday rejected, for now, what would have been the city’s first shelter for homeless families.

After a public hearing that attracted about 140 people, the council voted 4 to 0 against approving the project without a full environmental impact report.

The controversial project, known as Mary’s Home for Transitional Families, would have offered temporary housing for up to 28 homeless families, particularly those headed by single mothers. The families would have been allowed to stay at the gated complex from three months to two years.

Supporters said the community needed the shelter, and opponents said that it would have caused traffic problems and reduced property values.

A full environmental impact report would cost between $35,000 to $100,000, according to Robert Hana, coordinator of the Mary’s Home project. Hana said the cost may be prohibitive, but “we’ll definitely be back, one way or the other.”

The Planning Commission and City Council have been discussing the shelter since December, and the commission forwarded the project to the council without a recommendation.

The eight-unit project was scaled back to seven units in response to complaints from area residents. However, there has been no compromise on the location of the project, a 1.5-acre lot behind Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and School. The property is owned by the Diocese of Orange, which has agreed to lease the lot to Mary’s Home for $1 a year for the next 50 years.

Opposition to the shelter has increased in recent weeks, and some area residents formed the Coalition Against the Location of Mary’s Home to fight the project. They say that traffic from the church and school already cause problems, and that the shelter would only worsen the situation. On Tuesday night, the council heard from 18 people who opposed the project.

Jay Scott, a leader of the opposition whose townhouse overlooks the site, said: “I don’t think this makes any of us bad people for opposing Mary’s Home. We support it, but just in another location.”

Several of the opponents reminded the council of a stabbing that occurred Saturday night during the annual fiesta on the church grounds. Traffic congestion along Marian Street, where the entrances to the church property is located, interfered with emergency vehicles from reaching the victim immediately. The vacant land where Mary’s Home would be built is now used as a parking lot during the fiesta, as well as during special services at Easter and Christmas.

However, supporters of Mary’s Home said the impact of additional traffic had been overstated. Eight proponents of the shelter spoke before the council Tuesday.

Burt Wallrich, who lives in the mobile home park south of the site, said, “As a resident of La Habra, we are very uneasy if this project is not developed because of the taxes we will have to pay for problems created by increased homelessness.”