OTTUMWA — The first reading of a rezoning ordinance on Elm Street passed its first reading during Tuesday's Ottumwa City Council meeting at Bridge View Center, but left questions about notifications to local residents regarding the change.
The rezoning passed a 3-2 vote with council member Cara Galloway absent, and would create nine multifamily apartments from the current family crisis center at 1018 N. Elm St. The apartments are aimed to reduce Ottumwa's homeless population, and would be maintained by the Rolling Hills Coalition through Central Iowa Shelter and Services.
However, a dispute was raised by resident Chris Craver, who lives near where the development would take place. She claimed the city did not do enough to alert others in the immediate area of their intentions.
"One individual in a fourplex got that notification, and that process has left a lot of people out of the loop," she said. "I came here hot because it looked like you were avoiding talking to most of the people that are going to be involved in this opportunity."
Community development director Zach Simonson said the city published a notice as required by state law, but also said the city "went over and above that" by posting a sign in the property's yard andfollowing its own code established in 2015 to notify residents in a 200-foot radius.
However, he acknowledged there are flaws in that regulation, because the city's list of residents in that radius only includes who owns property according to the Wapello County Assessor's Office.
"The issue here is these are condos, and the assessor's report only shows one address, which is the address of record. We don't serve the multiple owners within the condo," he said. "There is a gap that we do want to solve. I don't have an issue with going wider than 200 feet, so we can look at changing that."
Craver was concerned about the supervision of the tenants that would be in the building.
"The fact that these people have been screened doesn't mean that their lifestyle is going to be acceptable to the rest of the neighborhood," she said.
Council member Bill Hoffman Jr. wondered if Craver was opposed because of who would be living in the apartments.
"So somebody who's struggling financially or somebody who's homeless are not different than you and me," Hoffman said. "Are you claiming a type of people that would live there, because that sounds like what you're doing?"
Craver denied Hoffman's accusation, but said "supervision during the day could turn into a dorm room situation at night."
"There are many people who are homeless for different reasons, and we shouldn't group them by who they're friends with, what they might do or what they might expose us to," Hoffman said.
Craver then went back to the how all the situation was handled.
"I'm not challenging the individuals in there," she said. "I'm challenging the fact that your process led several of us to not have the opportunity to address your zoning board."
Council member Keith Caviness, who voted down the ordinance, also had problems with the process of learning residents in that area.
"I don't know who figured out 200 feet was good, but why not 600 feet, or 1,000 feet?" he said. "Why can't we send someone with a letter, put it on their door and at least inform them what's going on. I think what I hear the biggest complaint is people just didn't feel like they were being included."
The building itself would consist of five one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom units, said Sam Carrell, the rural development director for Central Iowa Services. However, to begin construction, a rezoning was required.
"This is not a shelter, and people will have to qualify by income level," he said. "It's designed to be permanent living, but in a lot of cases, it gets them to a place of sustainability."
Mayor Rick Johnson, drawing on his experience with the Department of Human Services, said it takes a while for homeless people to get back on their feet.
"You're going to offer supportive services, which is great, but a lot of homeless people can become self-sufficient over the course of six months to a year if they have some stability," he said. "We have such a large homeless population here that if this is going to be permanent housing, there's never going to be enough. I was hopeful these could be transitional units so there is constantly some availability for other homeless people."
Should the next two readings of the ordinance be approved, the building would be finished by the end of 2025, Carrell said.
Cyan Bossou talked about her own homelessness when she was a child, and that the issue is larger than who will live in the units.
"I think we confuse the people who are homeless with homelessness itself," she said. "But at the end of the day, this is a good thing for our community. We know we have a problem providing housing for the homeless, but this is part of our plan."
Council member Doug McAntire believed it's time to make a space for the homeless.
"They didn't wake up when they were 10 years old and say their goal was to be homeless," he said. "We're trying to build something up to get them to be the people they probably always wanted to be."
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