On April 19, 2021 an application was filed with the City of Santa Rosa by Catholic Charities (CC). The purpose of the application was a Temporary Use Permit to move the CC Homeless Services Center from 600 Morgan Street to 610 Wilson Street. The Morgan Street location is being demolished to make way for construction of Caritas Village, which will include a new Homeless Services Center. Those plans can be viewed on the City of Santa Rosa website.
Normally, the City notifies property owners/residents within 300 feet when a Use Permit such as this is requested and also sends a Courtesy Notice to the West End Neighborhood Association. In this instance the City did not notify because it was not required per City Code section 20-52.040(D). CC did not notify the West End Neighborhood Association of the application. The Temporary Use Permit was approved by the City on July 13, 2021 and the appeal period ended on July 23rd.
These are the documents associated with the Temporary Use Permit:
Request from Catholic Charities to City of Santa Rosa (April 19, 2021)
Plan submitted by Catholic Charities to City of Santa Rosa (April 19, 2021)
Approval of Temporary Move from City of Santa Rosa (July 13, 2021)
Catholic Charities contacted our Board in August, asking for a neighborhood meeting to let neighbors know about their transition plans. The meeting was scheduled and notifications were posted to Facebook and sent to the website email list. The meeting was held on August 25th via Zoom. Our Board did not have information about the move until a few days prior to this meeting. No agreements were made between the Board and CC.
The Board has scheduled a site visit with CC to tour the temporary facility on September 14. We will do our best to identify potential issues and suggest mitigations.
- We will continue communicating with CC and advocating on behalf of the neighborhood.
- CC has stated they will have security present in the neighborhood through collaboration between RR square merchants and Redwood Gospel Mission. We will ask for detailed written information about security during our tour and post what is provided to us.
- CC has agreed to a mid-October meeting with the neighborhood. We will pursue monthly meetings with CC during the time the Wilson St facility is in use.
CC has also offered to set up a tour with interested neighbors. If you would like to be included, you may contact John Pavik.
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