A new faith-based program to provide short-term shelter to homeless families got the support Tuesday it needed from city commissioners to begin operating by this winter.

Lawrence city commissioners at their weekly meeting followed the urgings of homeless service advocates and approved a new set of regulations that will allow churches across the city to use their buildings as temporary shelters for homeless families with children.

“The city has the opportunity tonight to say yes to a large private-sector program that will cost the city nothing,” Katherine Dinsdale, chairwoman of the Community Commission on Homelessness and an organizer of the new faith-based program, told commissioners.

The new program will be a local chapter of the national program called Family Promise. The project relies on one church per week to house up to 14 people who are homeless and part of a family. Volunteers at the church provide food and evening supervision for the week.

During the day, a van takes the homeless individuals to a day center where the adults are provided counseling on job issues and other matters by a paid director.

The project required several new zoning regulations to be adopted by the city before the program could begin. Some of the regulations approved by the city include:

¢ Churches can’t operate more than 15 days per quarter as a homeless shelter, and they must meet with neighborhood members to develop a management plan for the shelter. If the management plan isn’t followed, city staff members could revoke the church’s ability to operate as a shelter.

¢ The day center can’t be located in single-family-zoned neighborhoods. The regulations allow for the centers to be located in industrial-, commercial- and office-zoned areas. A center also could be located in an apartment complex area, if it receives a special use permit from the City Commission.

The Family Promise program currently has 12 churches that are signed up to be a part of the program. Organizers have said they are looking at two to three locations for a day center, but have declined to publicly identify the sites.

The new regulations did draw some concern from neighborhood groups. Several residents urged commissioners to require any type of homeless service facility to receive a special use permit from city commissioners.

But all four commissioners – Commissioner Sue Hack was absent – said they believed the proposed regulations did enough to protect neighborhoods, especially because the churches would be limited in how often they could serve as a shelter.

Family Promise leaders have previously said they hope to have their program operational by Thanksgiving.

The new regulations also should help efforts by leaders of the Lawrence Community Shelter to find a new home for their operations. The traditional homeless shelter – which currently operates at 10th and Kentucky streets – is seeking a new location.

The new regulations for the first time give the shelter the ability to look at sites in industrially zoned areas. The regulations also prohibit any shelter that serves more than 15 people from locating in a residentially zoned area. The larger shelters also must receive a special use permit from city commissioners in all instances.

In other business, commissioners:

¢ approved a special 1 percent sales tax for a proposed shopping area at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. The special tax will pay for up to $5 million worth of public street and infrastructure improvements needed to serve the development. Commissioners approved the tax on a 3-1 vote with Commissioner Boog Highberger opposed.

¢ approved a new mixed-use zoning for the Jayhawk Bookstore at 1420 Crescent Road. The owners of the store said they don’t have any plans to change the use of the property, but rather wanted the new zoning because the current zoning of the property is for a fraternity or sorority house.