LA HABRA : City OKs Plans for Homeless Shelter

By MIMI KO

Oct. 23, 1993 12 AM PT

After more than three years of delays, the City Council this week decided to allow construction of a temporary housing facility for homeless families.

The shelter, Mary’s Home for Transitional Families, will house 28 families on a 1.5-acre lot behind the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 950 Walker Ave.

Several nearby residents opposed the project at Thursday’s council meeting. About 150 people were present, half of whom were against the project, saying it would complicate existing traffic and parking problems.

“We already have a lot of traffic on our street,” said Esther Corral, who lives on Marian Street, which is near the church. “We don’t need more. . . . I’m very disappointed with the council’s action, but hopefully it will work out.”

Council members unanimously voted for the project, imposing several conditions in an effort to appease residents.

They required that two residents serve on the shelter’s board of directors and that church officials try to mitigate current and future parking problems on nearby streets.

Shelter officials agreed to the council’s conditions.

The Diocese of Orange, which owns the property, has agreed to lease it to Mary’s Home for $1 a year for 50 years.

More than $200,000 has been spent on traffic studies and an environmental impact report that the city demanded in 1991, said Bob Hana, project director for the shelter. That report concluded that the project would have little or no impact on the surrounding areas.

After more than three hours of public testimony from both sides, Mayor William D. Mahoney said: “I appreciate the fact that we’re trying to help (homeless) people. . . . I sincerely do think that this is a worthwhile project.”

Mahoney encouraged residents to ask the city to begin a parking permit program in the neighborhood to try to relieve the traffic and parking problems, which he blamed on the church.

Hana said construction will begin in the next three to four months and that he expects the shelter to be completed by November, 1994.