- Hillsdale's Zoning Board of Appeals has rejected Hope Harbor's request for a variance that would allow first-floor residential use.
- The unsanctioned homeless shelter says it provides 15 individuals with Sober Transitional Housing.
- Hope Harbor says it intends to sue the City.
Another setback for Hillsdale's Hope Harbor — an unsanctioned homeless shelter — as the City's Zoning Board of Appeals rejects a request to legalize it.
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We've introduced you previously to Annette Roades, who is living at Hope Harbor. She says: "If it wasn't for here, I would still be out in that woods. And, the way my spine and leg are, I don't know if I would have made it."
Rhoades was at Wednesday night's meeting of the City of Hillsdale's Zoning Board of Appeals.
The ask: a variance to operate Sober Transitional Living in the first floor of the building where Rhoades and 14 others are currently staying.
"It's multi-use, and they want the second level to be the residential," says Melissa DesJardin of Hope Harbor. "So, we're asking for a reasonable accommodation to have that residential on the first floor rather than a second floor."
The Zoning Board of Appeals rejected that request.
I reached out to the Chair of the Board to ask why that decision was made — but did not hear back.
Melissa DesJardin, who started the homeless shelter in a tent behind this building, is finding the process "…incredibly confusing — how their by-laws are written."
Since Hope Harbor appears to be hitting a wall with City permitting bodies, I asked her…what's your next move?
"Our next move is court," says DesJardin. "We'll take it to Circuit Court."
SEE OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE HERE AND HERE.
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