The closing of an overflow homeless shelter downtown has the city’s main shelter at 10th and Kentucky streets looking to temporarily double in size.

The Lawrence Community Shelter last weekend operated beyond its 31-bed capacity to avoid turning away upward of 40 people who had been staying at an overflow shelter site across the street at First Christian Church, 1000 Ky.

Members of First Christian Church closed the overflow shelter site on Saturday after the church’s board became concerned about liability issues.

“We just put everybody in the shelter,” said Loring Henderson, executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter. “It was pretty cozy.”

But Henderson said he believes expanding the capacity of the existing shelter is the most reasonable solution to handling the shortage of bed space created by the closing of the overflow shelter.

The Lawrence Community Shelter has space in its basement that it could use for a sleeping area, but it hasn’t used it because it does not have a fire sprinkler system. Henderson, though, said he believes the building’s sprinkler system feasibly can be expanded to the area.

Henderson said he would like to get up to 40 additional beds in the space.

City inspectors are scheduled to examine the space today to assess whether it would meet necessary safety and fire codes.

Mayor Rob Chestnut said the city understands the unique situation the shelter is facing.

“We want to react to what is going on,” Chestnut said. “We understand that there’s a need for a few more beds, but we have to balance that with protecting the public safety. We’re trying to work with the LCS.”

Commissioners are scheduled to discuss a host of homeless shelter issues at their meeting at 6:35 p.m. today at City Hall.

The shelter in the past has drawn concerns from neighbors and downtown merchants. Chestnut said if the city does allow the shelter to expand its capacity, he doesn’t want people to interpret that as a sign the shelter is in downtown to stay.

“We have to remain committed to recognizing that is not going to be the long-term location for the homeless shelter,” Chestnut said. “I think everybody has agreed that this is not the location to have that kind of critical mass. But in the short term, it is something we may have to do.”

The shelter has been seeking a permanent, larger home for the past several years. At their meeting today, commissioners are expecting an update on how that search process is proceeding.

The shelter’s city-issued operating permit for the 10th and Kentucky location is set to expire next April.