The Lawrence Community Shelter is doing its best to meet a significantly increased demand for local services to the homeless, and the community should be grateful for the shelter’s efforts.

However, there is some cause for concern over the request that Lawrence city commissioners will discuss Tuesday for permission to more than double the shelter’s overnight occupancy.

The shelter, located at 10th and Kentucky streets, currently has a special use permit that allows it to house up to 31 homeless individuals and two staff members overnight. After the Salvation Army closed its overnight shelter May 31, demand for housing increased dramatically, and Lawrence Community Shelter cleared new space for overnight guests. Shelter officials now acknowledge that, in addition to the 31 people who legally occupy the shelter at night, an additional 21 are sleeping in a day room and another 21 on the patio behind the building, for a total of 73.

What shelter officials are seeking from the city is an adjustment to their special use permit that will allow them, after adding a fire sprinkler system and making some structural changes, to house 26 people in the building’s basement. Their plan is to move people in from the patio and house a total of 76 guests.

It’s somewhat troubling that shelter officials made a conscious decision to ignore the restrictions of their current use permit. Their action could raises questions about how well they’ll comply to whatever new restrictions city commissioners approve.

The other issue is the speed with which the shelter can move forward on its plans to find a new location. The increased occupancy it is seeking will put considerable stress on the current building and the surrounding neighborhood.

A related question is whether it makes financial sense to make such significant improvements to a building they hope to leave soon. The city had set aside some federal stimulus money that might be used for renovation work, but, depending on how soon the shelter thinks it can move, it may be wasteful to invest either public or private funds to make the structural improvements at the current site.

Even if commissioners approve new permit conditions for the shelter, there should be a clear understanding of how long that location will be allowed to serve so many people. The special use permit is due to expire in April 2010, which could become a deadline for the shelter to move or at least be close to moving to a new location.

Again, the staff and volunteers at Lawrence Community Shelter deserve much credit for the work they do, but even they agree that trying to serve so many people at their current location is not a good situation.

There obviously is a need, but city commissioners also must look at the impact the expanded capacity at the shelter would have on the neighborhood and how the city can encourage the shelter to move as quickly as possible to find a more suitable location.