Salvation Army site dedicated

The Salvation Army on Tuesday dedicated the site of a new homeless shelter and center as neighbors awaited answers to concerns about the project, which shifts the city’s largest emergency shelter from downtown to East Lawrence.

“I think people are going to find that we’re a good neighbor,” said Wesley Dalberg, the Salvation Army’s new administrator along with his wife, Susan Dalberg.

Organizers have raised $1.2 million of the $3.5 million needed for the project, Dalberg said. Tuesday’s event was to remind the community about the project and the Salvation Army’s intentions to build at the site on the west side of Haskell Avenue, between Lynn and Homewood streets.

The project, which replaces the Salvation Army’s facility at 946 N.H., will include two buildings with space for sleeping quarters, a food bank, a gymnasium, a chapel, dining areas and other uses.

It’s a plan that’s been in the works for years and one that has raised concerns among those in the neighborhood.

Wesley Dalberg, the new administrator for the Salvation Army of Lawrence, helps dedicate the new shelter campus site on Haskell Avenue near 19th Street.

Loralee Stevens, president of the Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn., said the group had not yet received adequate response to concerns about safety, transportation and other issues.

“We just want our concerns addressed,” she said.

The Dalbergs only recently took their positions as commanders of the Salvation Army here. Stevens said Wesley Dalberg has been invited to the neighborhood association’s Nov. 9 meeting and she’s optimistic about what will come of it.

“He seems open to addressing our concerns,” she said.

Dalberg said the facility and its operations will be structured in a way that should allay concerns.

“I don’t think we have the kind of population where we’re going to have people running all over the streets,” he said.

City Commissioner Sue Hack, who attended Tuesday’s dedication, said the site was perfect for the Salvation Army because it’s along a bus route, in close proximity to downtown and the right size.

A date for the start of construction hasn’t been set. The Salvation Army is still in the fundraising stage.