The message from Barker Neighborhood Assn. members to Salvation Army officials wanting to build a new homeless shelter in eastern Lawrence was loud and clear Saturday: Not in our back yard.

“I do not oppose helping the homeless, but this is just not an appropriate neighborhood,” said Patricia Sinclair, a Barker neighborhood resident. “It’s a family neighborhood.”

Sinclair was one of about 30 people who attended a neighborhood meeting Saturday at the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 15th St., to discuss the issue.

During the emotional two-hour meeting, Barker Neighborhood Assn. leaders said they would send a letter to Salvation Army officials expressing their concerns and requesting a meeting to discuss them.

In doing so, Barker neighborhood leaders allied themselves with the adjoining Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn. Brook Creek is where the Salvation Army wants to build a community center that would provide services, education and food to homeless people.

No one at the meeting represented Salvation Army, which wants to build its $4 million, 32,000-square-foot center along Haskell Avenue between Lynn and Homewood streets.

Salvation Army officials have said the current center, downtown at 946 N.H., was too small and that no other good downtown location existed. More than a dozen other potential sites around Lawrence were rejected as inadequate for the agency’s needs.

The Barker neighborhood is defined as east of Massachusetts Street between 15th and 23rd streets. It is just west of the Brook Creek neighborhood, and also lies between downtown — where many homeless congregate during the day — and the proposed new center.

One man at Saturday’s meeting, who identified himself as John Miller and who said he was homeless, rebuked those who think homeless people are all troublemakers.

East Lawrence residents discuss a proposed Salvation Army community center, which would be built near East 19th Street and Haskell Avenue, and would provide services, education and food to homeless people. About 30 people attended Saturday's meeting of the Barker Neighborhood Assn. at the East Lawrence Recreation Center.

“We are not all criminals any more than you are,” he said.

The proposed center drew some support. Barker neighborhood resident Carol Taylor said she thought the location was a good one because it was large and would allow for buffers to be built to shield it from neighbors. She also noted that those who use the center would be closely supervised and must meet requirements set by the Salvation Army.

“It is not an open shelter,” Taylor said.

Emily Wellman, president of the Barker association, said she was concerned about the homeless who would use the center to seek food and shelter but would not be interested in participating in the Salvation Army’s programs. Those people would be walking through residential areas to get to the center.

Austin Turney, a Barker resident and Lawrence school board member, noted that the city of Lawrence has plans to build a walking-and-biking trail from 11th to 19th streets near the center site. The sight of homeless people using the trail for “lounging space” would defeat the trail’s purpose, he said.

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Some residents said they also opposed the center because it would be built in a flood-prone area and increase stormwater runoff.

Others, however, including Cheryl Mark said the Salvation Army center was needed — despite there being no perfect place for it.

Carol Taylor, who lives on the 1900 block of New Hampshire Street, speaks in support of a proposed Salvation Army community center.

“I’ve been homeless, and I’m a good person,” Mark said.

Before being allowed to open a new shelter, the Salvation Army would have to receive a “use permitted upon review,” which would require the approval of the Lawrence City Commission. As of midweek, Salvation Army officials had not applied for such a permit.

Barker residents Saturday left open the possibility of organizing a protest petition against the proposed center.

Cheryl Mark, who lives in the of Barker neighborhood, speaks in support of a proposed Salvation Army community center planned for Haskell Avenue. Mark spoke Saturday during a meeting of the Barker Neighborhood Assn. at the East Lawrence Recreation Center.