The Salvation Army on Wednesday announced plans to build a new homeless shelter in the same east Lawrence neighborhood that vociferously opposed a similar proposal nearly three years ago.

Rich Forney, the Army’s Lawrence administrator, said he was working to quickly satisfy neighborhood concerns about the shelter proposed for Haskell Avenue, between Lynn and Homewood streets.

“We’re trying to anticipate some of those same things,” he said. “It’s going to be an asset to the whole community of Lawrence.”

But members of the Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn. who met with Forney on Tuesday said they still were examining the plans.

“We’re still sort of wait-and-see,” said Kirsten Roussel, the association’s president. “Some of the initial concerns from when they were planning it a couple of years ago still haven’t gone away.”

The Salvation Army now operates a homeless shelter out of its downtown headquarters at 946 N.H. But officials say they’ve run out of room at the site.

Forney said the new 32,000-square-foot center would be twice as large as the current headquarters. The new center would house temporary sleeping quarters for families, women and men seeking employment and permanent housing. It also would include space for a food bank, as well as rooms for classwork and case-management services for the homeless.

The center also would include a gymnasium, dining areas and a chapel for the Army’s church services.

Construction of the center will cost $4 million, not including land acquisition costs, Forney said. A fund-raising campaign is planned to begin at the turn of the year.

¢ 6News video: Salvation Army decides on shelter location

The Salvation Army’s plans three years ago to build the shelter at 15th Street and Haskell Avenue were derailed by Brook Creek neighborhood opposition.

Then, residents said they were concerned that new construction would exacerbate neighborhood flooding problems, would place the homeless far from other services near downtown, and was too close to East Heights School.

The new location solves the last problem, residents said Wednesday, but not the first two.

“I don’t doubt they’ve outgrown the space downtown, but this is a long way out,” said Richard Heckler, one of three residents who met Tuesday with Forney.

“I’m personally torn, because I know the community as a whole is trying to find places to put services like this,” Roussel said. “But I have a real concern about the location being away from where a lot of services for the homeless are, in the downtown neighborhood.”

Forney said the new location was picked from 17 considered around the city.

The announcement comes as a city task force is looking at ways to improve and coordinate services for the homeless in Lawrence. Lawrence City Commissioner Mike Rundle, who chairs the task force, said the Salvation Army’s plans would be integrated into the final report.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to put the Salvation Army on hold any longer than they’ve been on hold,” Rundle said.

Forney, meanwhile, said that while the location was final, the plan’s details were subject to change depending on input from the neighborhood and others.

“They’re just drawings,” he said of the plans. “Every time I talk to another group, it changes a little more.”

Forney will meet with the Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn. at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 in the East Lawrence Center, 1245 E. 15th St.