The Gideon Shelter Working Group had four meetings last week, three with HAND and CEIC to work on the Good Neighbor Agreement and one with representatives of Mayor Wheeler, HAND, and CEIC.
I also got a copy of the current site plans via a public records request. I’ve marked them up where I’m confused about conflicts between the site plans and the zoning for the site. To summarize
- The site is characterized as an outdoor shelter
- Under code 33.285, that limits the site to 200 people
- It also seems to limit it to 60 structures, at odds with the 100, with expansion to 140, in the plans
- The square footage per person is mandated at 35 square feet in the 33.285. That means these 64 square foot prefabricated shelters can’t be used for two people.
The above all hold without any changes to the zoning code. We’ve asked the city, in particular Hank Smith and Eric Zimmerman, to give us the paper trail on those changes to the code. We’ve been assured that the city’s lawyer has reviewed the changes and they’re authorized by the housing emergency declaration, but it would seem that would empower someone to make this decision. We just want to see that decision and its justification. We may do another public records request to see that.
The Good Neighbor Agreement continues to progress. You can see its current state in the file share.
We have four meetings scheduled this week, three for the neighborhoods involved in the GNA and one with the City to go over the draft so far.
