photo by: Nick Gerik

The Community Building, 115 W. 11th St., is pictured June 24, 2019.

Lawrence city leaders will soon consider suspending certain building and fire codes to enable the city to use two recreation centers to provide overnight shelter during the winter for up to 150 people experiencing homelessness.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider a resolution to temporarily suspend enforcement of certain provisions of the city’s land development code, international building code and international fire code from Nov. 3 to March 31 to allow the recreation centers to be used as emergency overnight shelters during that time period.

The city is proposing the downtown Community Building, 115 W. 11th St., be the primary site and the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 15th St., be used as an overflow site as needed, according to a city staff memo.

The request comes after the city initially sought to accommodate overnight emergency winter shelters under existing code by using one recreation center and four local churches or other religious organizations. That announcement was made in early October, and Community Development Manager Danelle Walters said Friday that the city had not had any further conversations with churches about the possibility of on-site shelter space.

Under existing city code for emergency winter shelters, certain properties can shelter either 20 or 40 people, depending on their square footage. Instead of the plan to use churches, the city is now proposing that the various code provisions be suspended so that 75 people can be sheltered at each of the two city recreation centers, or a total of 150 people.

It has recently been estimated there are approximately 200 people experiencing homelessness who are currently living outside, many of whom are camping in city parks, city-owned land along the Kansas River and in other public areas.

The responsibility for providing emergency winter shelter has fallen to the city, churches and volunteers for the past few years due to capacity reductions at the Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St. LCS has the capacity to serve 125 people most of the time and 140 people during the winter, but has not used its expanded winter capacity in the past few years.

The LCS initially reduced its capacity to 65 people in August 2019 due to budget issues and, following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, has largely limited capacity at its building to a maximum of 40 people so that it could space out guests in its dormitories and have room to quarantine guests as necessary. The LCS temporarily housed additional people in hotels with the help of federal coronavirus relief funds, but that program ended April 1. The LCS has also adopted a housing-first model, which focuses on rapidly getting people into their own housing.

Isabel Johnson, president of the shelter’s governing board, said that the shelter is planning to add 10 beds for the winter, bringing the capacity up to 50 people. Johnson said that increase in capacity takes into account that the shelter has to have space set aside for quarantine.

Should emergency winter shelter space be needed beyond the two recreation centers, the city may consider additional shelter locations. Walters said at this point, the city is only focusing on the two recreation centers, but that any additional needs will be assessed on an ongoing basis through the winter.

The two emergency shelter areas in the city recreation centers would generally open when temperatures are forecast to reach 35 degrees or colder as published in the Lawrence Journal-World each morning, according to the memo. On those nights, the shelters would open at 8 p.m. and close by 7 a.m. the following day.

When it comes to staffing, the memo states that city staff who worked with last year’s winter shelter programs will provide site management and volunteer coordination. The city is recruiting volunteers and working with partner agencies regarding training, support services for guests, security and other program needs. The city does not provide an estimate for how much it will cost to operate the program, but indicates that funding would come from “budget savings” in the city’s general fund.

Information for potential volunteers and a sign-up form for those interested in assisting with the shelter is available on the city’s website, lawrenceks.org/winter-emergency-shelter.

The Lawrence City Commission will meet virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, and some staff will be in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The public may attend the meeting in person at City Hall or participate virtually by following directions included in the commission’s meeting agenda, which is available on the city’s website.