Regional leaders of the Salvation Army have squashed a plan to house prison parolees in a proposed East Lawrence shelter, one day after neighbors expressed surprise and concern about the idea.

Roger Alexander, director of development for the Kansas and Western Missouri Division of the Salvation Army, said regional leaders of the nonprofit organization did not support plans by Lawrence administrator Rich Forney to enter into a partnership with the state’s Department of Corrections to house prison parolees who need transitional housing.

“That was premature,” Alexander said of Forney’s statements Tuesday. “That will not happen in the foreseeable future, and that is a long time. I can’t say 30 years from now when that building is still standing that it won’t happen. But there is no desire from the Salvation Army to get involved in a halfway house program.”

The Salvation Army’s top regional leader, Lt. Col. Theodore Dalberg, also issued a statement saying there “are no plans and will be no plans” for the Salvation Army to run a halfway house in Lawrence.

Neighbors, who Tuesday said they were caught unaware of the program and were concerned about safety issues, said they welcomed the news but remained skeptical.

“It is better news,” said Beth Anne Mansur, a Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn. leader who has been involved in negotiations with the Salvation Army regarding its proposed site near 19th Street and Haskell Avenue. “But I still don’t know. All I can say is we’ll see what happens. I would like to trust them, but it is hard to do now.”

Alexander acknowledged that Salvation Army leaders had been studying the possibility of using some of the proposed shelter’s beds to house prison parolees. He said Ric Evans, director of a Salvation Army program in Kansas City, Kan., that houses prison parolees, had met with Lawrence Salvation Army leaders about such a program.

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But Alexander said the Salvation Army ultimately determined the Lawrence property wasn’t large enough to accommodate that program and still meet its original goal of serving homeless families.

“We have a glaring need to help families with children,” Alexander said.

Salvation Army leaders have a piece of property west of Haskell Avenue between Lynn and Homewood streets that has been approved by city planners for a 35,000-square-foot community building and shelter. The shelter would include sleeping quarters for 39 men, 12 women and four apartment-style areas for families. The shelter would be part of a larger program that would provide mandatory job and life-skills training to shelter residents.

Forney had said about a half-dozen beds in the shelter could have been reserved for a prison parolee program. Forney on Wednesday declined to comment on the Salvation Army’s decision to not move forward with the program.

The Salvation Army in July is expected to begin a public fund-raising campaign to help pay for the $3.5 million facility. Alexander said the organization was not distancing itself from Forney’s idea over fear that it would hurt fund raising.

“The Salvation Army just has to focus on what we can do, and right now that is (help) families with children,” Alexander said.