Mount Pleasant Planning Commission rejects downtown homeless shelter

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The Mount Pleasant Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny a special use permit at 121 N. Lansing St., to an OS-1 site for a proposed men’s homeless shelter.

The proposal, which would have allowed the Christian Unity Restoration Group to open a homeless shelter for up to about 19 people, was rejected Thursday after about 12 people spoke out against the proposed shelter near downtown.

The shelter would have allowed men to stay in the house for up to 30 days, as long as they did not have a criminal background. The men would attend church weekly and remain substance-free throughout their stay.

If residents did not comply with the rules, they would be kicked out, said Linda Oates, Christian Unity Restoration Group Board of Directors chairwoman.

Alice Gardner, a  Mount Pleasant resident, said a homeless shelter is a good move for the city, but not near the residences near downtown.

She said she was worried the screening process for alcohol and drugs would be inadequate.

“These people who are going to be there … I feel its going to be very difficult to know if someone is on drugs or if they’ve been drinking,” she said.

The property, which is currently zoned as an office-use property, could have also been zoned as an M-2, a multiple family residence.

But Oates requested the property remain an OS-1 with a special-use permit for the shelter.

Commissioner Minde Lux said if she lived in the area near the proposed site with children, she “would be scared.”

“I just don’t think this will be the greatest location for a shelter,” Lux said.

Oates said the shelter would have checked with the Michigan State Police Web site for convictions of possible residents and mischief would not be allowed.

“We will not be a home for perverts. We are not a home for convicts,” she said. “Christian unity describes who we are.”

But Commissioner Tim Brockman was skeptical.

“I’m not sure that the plan is really all that well-conceived,” he said. “To ask us to change zoning ordinances with proof that we have a problem … I think it’s asking an awful lot.”