By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

The Joplin City Council is expected to make a decision tonight on whether to allow City of Refuge to continue to operate its homeless shelter.

More than 40 homeless people are staying at the shelter, which is located in an old cold-storage warehouse at 502 E. Seventh St., just south of the Seventh Street viaduct. The organization also provides drug and alcohol recovery, ministry services, and a food pantry out of that location.

But even if the council goes against an advisory board’s recommendation and grants a rezoning request in favor of the shelter operation, the leader of the organization, Dan Anderson, said over the weekend that he might have to move his ministry anyway.

He said he does not want to continue to invest in a building that the ministry does not own.

“I see no sense in continuing to upgrade, spending money and volunteers’ time on a facility we can’t keep,” Anderson said.

But just what the obstacle is to the ministry proceeding with its plan to purchase the building could not be ascertained by the Globe over the weekend.

Anderson said Saturday that the owner of the building, Gary Garvin, recently suggested that the building was no longer for sale.

Garvin told the Globe that he did make a comment recently about not wanting to sell, but that “I was just kind of trying to kid around a little bit.”

“Yeah, I’d be willing to sell,” he said in a phone interview Saturday night. “The figure in my mind is closer to $175,000, but I don’t have the papers at home.”

Anderson said City of Refuge has had a month-to-month lease agreement with Garvin since moving into the building in February 2007. He said the terms of the lease include $1,150 a month in rent for the building. Garvin said he pays for the maintenance of the existing heating and air-conditioning units, and the roof, as stipulated in the lease.

Anderson said he inquired about purchasing the building about three months into the lease. He said Garvin offered to sell it to him for $165,000 cash or to finance the building for 20 years and sell it for $175,000.

Anderson said he “never had any thought about moving” before Garvin’s comment about not wanting to sell.

“We’d be happy to stay there if he’d sell,” he said, adding that the neighborhood has a history of homeless habitation. “This is just the ideal location for us.”

The shelter was cited in January for 11 building- and zoning-code violations, including a lack of heat, insufficient fire exits, no smoke alarms or fire extinguishers, and maintaining a residential operation in an area zoned for heavy industry. It also was cited by the Joplin Health Department for nine health-code violations related to the meal program and food pantry.

The health-code violations included refrigerators that were not kept at proper temperatures and a lack of proper dishwashing equipment, according to Joplin Health Department inspector Ryan Talken.

The operation was given 30 days to make “substantial progress” or face a potential shutdown order. At a re-inspection Feb. 25, fire and building officials noted progress but still found several areas, including the lack of heating and emergency exits, that had not been addressed.

Projects that have been undertaken are installation of fire alarms, remodeling of a bathroom, and putting in a wall and doorway to separate the men’s and women’s dormitories.

Other items, including a heating and air-conditioning unit, electrical and ductwork, and installing a double-door exit near the men’s dormitory, are on hold, pending the council’s decision.

The Joplin Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 on Feb. 11 to recommend that the City Council deny the shelter’s rezoning request, based in part on complaints from business owners about loitering and foot traffic of homeless people in the area.

While city codes allow churches to operate in any zoning area, including heavy industry and manufacturing zones, other uses, such as residential housing, are not permitted, according to Troy Bolander, planning and community development director for the city.

Asked how the city could have been unaware of the ministry’s operation in the building, Joplin building official Steve Cope previously said that operating a church in an industrial area is legal, and that churches do not require a business license.

“They were in there absolutely legally for the initial use of the ministry,” he said. “There would have been no point for the city to go in there (to inspect).”

Bolander said it was the ministry’s move to offer shelter services that placed it outside the zoning rules.

“I’m sure we informed them that churches are permitted in the district,” he told the Globe in a previous interview. “(Anderson) probably thought that all ancillary uses for a church would also be permitted. In this case, our code contains provisions against having residents in an industrial area.”





Council hearing



The City Council will conduct a public hearing and then vote on whether to grant the City of Refuge rezoning request during a meeting set for 6 p.m. today at City Hall, 602 S. Main St.