10-23-17 City Council Agenda Packet

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Eugene currently has four rest stops, all of which are managed by Community Supported Shelters (CSS) and all of which are located in Ward 7. The non-profit Nightingale Health Sanctuary (NHS) previously operated a rest stop for more than two years before transitioning to operating a site permitted as "car camping" in April of this year. The site, a City -owned property located on the southwest corner of 34th Avenue and Hilyard Street, allows up to six vehicles, as defined by City code, to be used for sleeping. NHS wishes to increase its capacity in order to shelter more individuals by operating a rest stop at the location. The NHS Steering Committee and interested community members have worked with the Southeast Neighbors over the past few months to increase neighborhood understanding of the program and request the neighborhood association's support for a rest stop at the location. • Southeast Neighbors (SEN) sent postcard invitations to immediate neighbors of the NHS site for an Open House that NHS held in July as an opportunity for community members to see the site and its operations. Few close neighbors attended, and those who did expressed support for the existing car camp as well as some concern about it growing to a 20 -person rest stop. • In August, the Vulnerable Populations Working Group, a group of community members working to increase shelter opportunities for the unhoused, held a meeting with NHS steering committee members and a few SEN board members to discuss the potential for the NHS car camping site to become a rest stop. At this meeting, a number of questions and items of concern were raised, and a plan was made to bring the full NHS steering committee to a meeting of the SEN board in order to provide fuller answers to questions and more thoroughly discuss concerns. • On August 29, the NHS Steering Committee and SEN Board met to discuss a series of specific questions and concerns that had been raised by board members. NHS provided copies of their operational materials for the board to review. The SEN Board then planned to make a decision on a recommendation at their next meeting. • SEN board members distributed flyers door-to-door to neighbors and business owners within 500' of the site to make them aware of the board's plan to make a decision on a recommendation to Council regarding the establishment of a rest stop on September 19. • At the SEN board meeting on September 19, neighbors in attendance had the opportunity to ask additional questions of the NHS steering committee. Following board discussion, the SEN board voted 8-1 in support of the following recommendation to the Eugene City Council: "The Southeast Neighbors Board of Directors supports the car camp at Good Samaritan becoming a rest stop. The Board recommends to City Council this change in designation with the request that the rest stop be permitted to grow to no more than 12 residents over the next six months. The Board further requests that admissions of new residents be suspended for four months after reaching twelve residents to give the neighborhood association an opportunity to determine whether to recommend a further expansion of the rest stop." Good Samaritan Society, which operates a home health and senior housing facility next door to the site, has been engaged in these conversations as they have progressed. The administrator of Good Samaritan has been supportive of the NHS car camping site and built positive relationships with the site managers. Following the work session on October 9, City staff have worked to conduct additional outreach to the immediate neighbors of the proposed site at 34th Avenue and Hilyard Street and to advertise F:\CMO\2017 Council Agendas\M171023\S1710234.doc