City prepared to 'commence additional enforcement action' against City Walk after permit denial
A day after the local planning committee denied City Walk Urban Mission’s application to operate as a homeless shelter, city officials vowed to begin enforcement of building code violations and move ahead with legal action.
In a statement Friday, City Attorney Cassandra Jackson labeled the facility on Mahan Drive “an unpermitted homeless shelter,” and said stricter enforcement, including filing court injunctions, could commence.
“With the continued operations and a final denial of the application for site plan approval, the City is preparing to commence additional enforcement action,” Jackson wrote. “In addition to the unpermitted operations, City Walk is also in violation of the Florida Building Code and minimum requirements for a structure that is used for human habitation.”
The 64-bed facility moved into the vacant office complex in late 2020 as an emergency cold night shelter but quietly transitioned into a full-time capacity without proper permitting and out of compliance with city codes. Nearby residents and business owners logged complaints of aggressive panhandling, public urination, drug use and solicitation in which people from the shelter are knocking on doors.
Previously: City Walk application to operate homeless shelter denied for second time
More: Tallahassee officials order City Walk to cease operations as a homeless housing facility
City Walk's attorneys say it stepped in to offer temporary housing during cold nights but just as the need for shelter and services continues, the city "solidifies it's bait-and-switch" that forces the city's most vulnerable onto the streets.
"This vindictive approach — in disregard of a judge’s thorough finding that City Walk’s transitional housing program is a community blessing and should be allowed to operate — helps no one and risks creating a crisis," said Jordan Pratt, Senior Counsel with the First Liberty Institute. "We will continue to pursue available legal remedies to ensure that City Walk can keep answering the call to serve the most desperate among us.”
Last spring, City Walk’s application for permitting was denied by the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Commission. The same group Wednesday denied the mission’s second application, which came after an administrative law judge said it could continue operations following a strict set of guidelines.
Those guidelines, city attorneys argued, were arbitrary, created by City Walk which could alter them if they choose, and did little to abate the concerns.
In March, eight months before the judge’s ruling, city officials ordered the facility to cease operations or face daily fines. When City Walk appealed the code enforcement order in Leon County Circuit Court, the appeal was decided in the city’s favor.
As of Friday, code-related fines accrued by City Walk amount to approximately $6,000.
Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee to enforce building codes on City Walk 'unpermitted homeless shelter'
