Asheville Primary School OK'd for use as temporary homeless shelter, but there's a catch
ASHEVILLE - Once home to a beloved Montessori program, the Asheville Primary School building on Haywood Road has sat vacant for months, but following a Dec. 15 vote from the Asheville Board of Education, the building could find temporary use as a homeless shelter.
But there's a catch.
“We have had one circumstance come up today that I need to make you aware of," said interim Superintendent Jim Causby at the Dec. 15 meeting.
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In an email from a resident that morning, school staff learned that the zoning district along Haywood Road in which the school sits does not allow shelter use. However, Causby said staff investigated and found an "interesting scenario:"
“That address on Haywood Street does not allow shelter use," Causby said. "But, apparently, the zoning lines are split, almost split the school in the middle. And the northern half of it is in a zone that does allow shelter space. So that’s where we are."
Causby said ACS attorneys are working with the city planning department to get a final answer on the building's allowable uses. He said that could take a few days to navigate.
He recommended the board take the vote anyway and, if approved, and if the city gives the OK, the building can move forward as a shelter without returning to the board.
In a unanimous vote, the school board, now six members strong with all four newly-elected members sworn in and one vacant seat, approved a memorandum of understanding with Counterflow LLC, an organization assisting the efforts of three local churches to run a winter shelter during the city's coldest months.
Included in the vote was a stipulation that the building's use as a shelter is subject to approval from the city of Asheville regarding the zoning discrepancy.
School board Attorney Chris Campbell said he can't speak to the timeline of the ultimate decision.
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“We are trying to get clarification from the city on exactly what that split is," Campbell told the Citizen Times following the meeting. "Since they are the zoning administrators, then we want to get the official zoning from them.”
The request to use the school as a shelter was made by a newly-formed group, Winter Safe Shelter, formerly Asheville Ecumenical Winter Shelter. The group is a partnership between Trinity United Methodist Church on Haywood Road, Grace Episcopal Church and Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, both on Merrimon Avenue.
Asheville Primary School closed at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, following a controversial Dec. 13, 2021 vote by the school board to close the facility. If shelter use is found to be allowable, the school could be used as temporary shelter Dec. 15 to March 31, 2023.
A wing of Asheville Primary School would be utilized as the winter shelter, with access to four classrooms, necessary halls, hall bathrooms, the upstairs kitchen and the courtyard. Winter Safe Shelter will focus on keeping intact families together, something not typically possible at other emergency shelter options.
With only 10 beds, the churches anticipate housing two families at a time, and any additional availability will be directed toward people of color and LGBTQ individuals experiencing homelessness.
As laid out in the memorandum, Counterflow is responsible for payment of $1,200 per month for utility costs to the district, pro-rated for any partial month. Occupancy is limited to 20 people, with a maximum of 10 guests and no more than 10 staff, volunteers, and program leaders to support the guests and provide supervision.
Board member Thornburg asked if the zoning discrepancy could impact where in the building the shelter space could be.
Causby said it will depend. He hoped the ruling would be if part of the school is acceptable, it all is. But if not, "we'll have to see if we can find rooms where it is allowed."
Campbell reiterated that they "never rely on images that are available on the internet, we need to verify with the zoning department exactly where that line is, so we don't know how much of the building right now it covers, that's what we're waiting to get clarification on."
A look at the city's interactive zoning map shows the scenario described, with the school building at 441 Haywood Road bisected by two dueling zoning districts, HR-1: Core and INST.
HR-1 indicates Haywood Road Core zoning, and INST indicates institutional zoning.
According to the city's Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO, the core sub-district is intended to preserve existing buildings and to maintain the historic character of the two traditional centers on Haywood Road.
An institutional district is established to reserve land for the development of major educational facilities, major medical facilities and other complementary and supporting uses such as health related developments, office developments and public services, according to the UDO.
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It's a mystery that may leave some waiting. ACS spokesperson Dillon Huffman said if it's not solved Dec. 16, it may have to wait until Jan. 3, at the earliest, as ACS winter break begins Dec. 19 and ends on Dec. 30.
Associate Pastor Mike Reardon, with Grace Episcopal, was also among the crowd, and didn't know before the meeting that there was a legitimate zoning concern that could halt the shelter's use.
“And when it arose here today, my heart just sank to the floor and I figured, OK, they were right. We’re done," He said.
"And then, in a matter of 10 seconds, there’s this caveat that the zoning classification only covers half of the building, and that by some strike of luck or grace, perhaps we’ll have to pick up our mattresses and go to the correct side of the building."
Asheville Primary School was not the initial sheltering plan for Winter Safe Shelter, and if use of the building is not allowed, Reardon anticipates the shelter will operate out of one of the churches' own buildings, likely in a rotation, as planned.
If allowed, what are the shelter details?
As a winter shelter option, the beds will be available each night, not just when Code Purple is called, which is triggered when temperatures drop to 32 degrees and below. The shelter options will be referral only, and will not accept walk-ins.
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The strategy is motivated by Homeward Bound's Room in the Inn program, which operated for more than a decade until it ended in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, and Trinity United Methodist Church’s experience during the previous winter season, when they served as an emergency shelter option for the first time.
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Winter Safe Shelter anticipates serving 30-50 people over the season, according to Counterflow's website.
Numbers of homeless individuals have been on the rise in recent months, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest count, completed Jan. 24, identified 637 experiencing homelessness, 232 who were unsheltered.
That is 110 more than the 2021 count, which found 527 people experiencing homelessness in Asheville, of which 116 were unsheltered.
According to the May 10 point in time report given by Homeless Strategy Division Manager Emily Ball, of those included in the county, 47 people were part of intact families experiencing homelessness, while 92.2% of those, or 587 people, were counted as individuals.
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In other news
Also at its Dec. 15 meeting, Asheville school board swore in its first elected members, Liza English-Kelly, Amy Ray, Rebecca Strimer and Thornburg.
The board elected its new officers in two unanimous votes, with George Sieburg selected as the new board chair and Ray as vice chair.
These newly-elected members will grow the board from five seats to seven, replacing outgoing members Shaunda Sandford and Martha Geitner.
It was a tight race, with Ray, Thornburg, Strimer and English-Kelly clinching the win, in that order, but first runner-up, Pepi Acebo, was only 216 votes behind English-Kelly, according to official general election results. Behind Acebo, by 912 votes, was Jesse Warren.
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Sieburg and board member James Carter will remain until 2024, when all members will be elected to staggered four-year terms, according to Huffman.
Following the Dec. 5 resignation of board member Peyton O'Conner, who announced she was stepping down after several transphobic attacks from an anti-LGBTQ group during school board public comment, Asheville City Council will appoint a new member after a series of Jan. 10 interviews.
City Council will interview the four runner-ups from the November general election: Acebo, Warren, Miri Massachi and William Young Jr.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Primary School approved for temporary homeless shelter
