Public meetings set on plan to move homeless shelter to southeast Lawrence

Efforts to relocate the local homeless shelter to a new eastern Lawrence site are moving ahead with a trio of public meetings, and at least a few private ones too.

Leaders with Lawrence Community Shelter have set three public meeting dates to discus plans to move from downtown Lawrence to a warehouse at 3701 Franklin Park Circle near Douglas County Jail.

At the same time, shelter officials are having discussions with representatives of the Franklin Business Park, who have objected to the shelter’s plans and said they don’t fit with restrictive covenants that have long been attached to the shelter’s proposed site.

Neither side would comment on whether they are closer to resolving their differences.

“Until there is some decision, I think it is best that we just deal with this as a private matter,” said Steve Glass, a trustee for the business park.

Shelter Director Loring Henderson also declined to comment, saying some privacy would help the process move forward. He said a timeline for the matter to be resolved hasn’t been set.

The three public meetings will give community members a chance to ask questions about the shelter’s management plan or other issues related to how the 125-bed shelter operates, Henderson said.

Dates for the meetings, which will be from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., are:

• May 20, Building 1, Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper Street.

• June 1, Building 1, Douglas County Fairgrounds.

• June 10, 3701 Franklin Park Circle, which is the proposed site for the shelter.

The shelter’s proposed management plan is available online at the city’s Web site. Copies of the plan also will be available at the May 20 meeting.

City commissioners late last month approved a special use permit for the shelter at the Franklin Park site, the approval is contingent on the shelter submitting a detailed management plan to the commission by Aug. 1. Commissioners also required the shelter to have at least three meetings with neighbors of the new site.