Proposed Shelter Runs Into New Obstacle : Social services: Project is re-evaluated because fuel tanks are near a Navy site that would be used to house homeless people.

Federal officials are re-evaluating whether surplus Navy property in San Pedro is suitable for a homeless shelter because it is near tanks holding millions of gallons of airplane fuel.

The site on Taper Avenue does not meet federal standards for homeless dwellings because two fuel tanks are too close to the buildings, said Louis Misko, director of the Navy’s base closures division.

A spokesman from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which approved the site for a homeless project in 1993, said the Navy has been asked to resubmit information about the site and the surrounding area.

He said HUD would look at the application for the shelter again in light of the new information.

The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said re-evaluation of the site would not necessarily stop the homeless project, but “since we are making a redetermination, I don’t think anyone would want to move forward.”

HUD had already been told by the Navy that the tanks are closer to the proposed shelter than allowed by a federal law, but it was approved anyway. But in light of concerns raised by local political leaders, HUD has agreed to re-evaluate the project.

Approval was given to Turner’s Technical Institute Inc. to operate a shelter for up to 600 homeless people in 144 units of Navy housing, which is currently used by sailors and their families. The Navy plans to transfer those families before the Long Beach Naval Station closes in September.

The shelter proposal enraged neighboring residents, who say San Pedro already has enough shelters, and the plan was set into motion without anyone in the community knowing about it. At a series of public hearings, angry residents have questioned public officials and sought a loophole in the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 that gives homeless advocates first chance at surplus government land.

Now that loophole may have been found. Local politicians brought information to the housing department’s attention early this week about the tanks’ proximity to the site, the HUD spokesman said.

The McKinney Act states that no flammable liquids are allowed within 2,000 feet of a homeless shelter. Misko said at least one of the two above-ground tanks on Gaffey Street is about 950 feet from the property line. Each of the privately owned tanks holds more than 4 million gallons of fuel, officials said.

The Navy informed the housing department about the location of the tanks before the approval, but Turner’s application for the land was accepted, Misko said.

“Obviously, (the department) made a determination that that was suitable, and now that’s being called into question,” he said.

Johnathon Marzet, deputy director of Turner’s Technical, a South-Central Los Angeles homeless advocacy group, said opponents of the shelter are “trying to grab at anything they can to kill the project.”

He said he is not concerned about the safety of the housing.

“There are at least 300, 400 or 500 homes that are closer to those tanks than we are,” Marzet said.

Turner’s Technical will fight any attempt to stop the shelter, he said.

“We’re very upset because we’re talking about helping people. We’re talking about turning children’s and adults’ lives around, and what we are hearing is, ‘We don’t care about that.’ That’s what disturbs us, the lack of care.”

Residents say they do care about homelessness but are angry that they were not given an opportunity to develop their own plans for the site.

Some people living in the neighborhood already have concerns about the safety of living near the tanks, said Nancy Donlon of San Pedro/Peninsula Homeowners United. “If you’re really trying to do the best for the homeless, then that’s not the best place to house them.”