This story, by Aaron Calvin, was first published by the News & Citizen on Aug. 3.
A dispute over an expanded homeless shelter in Hyde Park was amicably resolved last week.
An appeal to a Hyde Park zoning decision to convert the Forest Hill Residential Care Home into a shelter threatened to hold up the shelter’s planned December opening. San Diego tech entrepreneur Saul Costa, who owns a 4-bedroom home on a 42-acre property adjoining the future shelter, appealed the permit in May.
The two parties agreed to amend the initial zoning decision to include stricter regulations that were outlined in a negotiated court ruling. Among other stipulations, these regulations require that:
• Only 21 residents will be allowed to live at the facility, and they must be in need of crisis housing.
• Anyone attempting to camp on the property will be removed.
• No visitors will be allowed at the shelter without express permission of Lamoille Community House.
• Residents at the property will not be allowed to leave the property except when being transported to areas outside of the neighborhood; the shelter must provide transportation for residents.
• The shelter’s board will hold public meetings with the building’s owner, Lamoille Housing Partnership, and form an outlet for community concerns and maintain on-site security.
Costa, who grew up in Lamoille County, said he filed the appeal of the Hyde Park Development Review Board’s decision out of a desire to protect his home. Though it’s his second home, he doesn’t think of it as a vacation home.
After Costa became aware of the decision in February, he said he immediately flew back to Vermont to discuss the matter with the Lamoille Housing Partnership and his neighbors, who he said also had concerns about the project.
“I continued to engage with the community throughout the appeal process, and the concerns they highlighted made it clear that the key to addressing their valid fears was to further strategize how the facility’s guests would reach the facility,” Costa said. “No adequate transportation plan was in place, which would have resulted in foot traffic through the front yards of local residents, given that there are no sidewalks or streetlights on the path from town to the facility.”
Though it had not been stipulated in the town’s change of use permit, Kim Anetsberger, director of Lamoille Community House, had promised that the organization would arrange transportation for the shelter’s residents, and planned to buy a shuttle van and also make use of the Rural Community Transportation’s new rideshare program.
Costa’s appeal has codified that plan in the zoning permit. Costa’s primary concern was keeping homeless shelter residents out of sight and out of the yards of the other residents in the rural Hyde Park neighborhood.
“Valid concerns, such as the safety of the families in the area, drug use outside the facility’s property, and damage to local residents’ property, could be mitigated if the facility’s guests were never in the front yards of residents in the first place,” he said.
Costa said he felt the outcome of the negotiations were satisfactory.
“If the agreed-upon terms are adhered to, this facility — despite its less-than-ideal rural location — can provide a much-needed service to Lamoille County with minimal impact on local residents,” he said, adding that he appreciated the willingness of both Lamoille Community House and Lamoille Housing Partnership “to work together to address the community’s concerns.”
Both nonprofits governing the new shelter were also satisfied with the conclusion of the negotiations.
“We are so grateful that we were able to reach a point of resolution with Mr. Costa. I knew that if we sat down, talked about this, respected each other’s opinions and validated each other’s concerns, we’d be able to move forward together — and we did,” Anetsberger said.
Lamoille Housing Partnership’s outgoing executive director Jim Lovinsky echoed these sentiments.
“Communication and collaboration are the ways that our organizations and our communities will best solve our shared housing and homelessness challenges. The process was intense, necessary and ultimately positive,” he said. “I deeply appreciate and respect Mr. Costa’s continuous engagement and role throughout the appeal, acting as a conduit between the organizations and neighborhood residents. The appeal’s resolution comes at a pivotal time in Lamoille County’s flood recovery phase.”
The shelter is expected to open in December, and Anetsberger said a plan is afoot to invite the community “to share a meal and some board games with our guests. We plan to operate out of the Yellow House for November until we’re ready to move into the Clark Drive shelter.”
