Interfaith Sanctuary Update 6/7/22

VPNA reviewed the Reason Statement and Conditions of Approval adopted by City Council regarding Interfaith Sanctuary’s shelter application, and we find that our concerns, and the issues identified by the Planning & Zoning Commission, have not been satisfied by the decision nor the conditions. VPNA submitted a request for reconsideration today and, if denied, is committed to seeking judicial review under the Local Land Use Planning Act (LLUPA) to challenge this approval.

Interfaith Sanctuary Update

We have had many people contact us regarding next steps and asking how to donate to VPNA, following City Council’s decision to grant Interfaith a CUP.

We are currently waiting to review the final written Reason Statement and revised conditions of approval that the City Council and Staff will make available in the next few weeks. We will continue to engage with our legal counsel to review this once it is available, to evaluate requesting that City Council reconsider or, ultimately, challenging the decision in the court system.

Methods by which we can accept your donations are shown below:

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Attend the City Council Hearings for CUP21-00026

Interfaith Sanctuary has appealed to City Council the Planning and Zoning Commission’s 5 to 1 vote to deny CUP21-00026 for a 205 bed congregate homeless shelter at 4306 W State St where the old Salvation Army thrift store used to be. The City Council will hold a hearing for this appeal beginning next week on April 18th through April 25th at City Hall. The dates and times are shown below:

  • Monday, April 18, 2022 – 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, April 19, 2022 – 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, April 20, 2022 – 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, April 21, 2022 – 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.
  • Monday, April 25, 2022 – 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.

ATTENDING THE HEARING

We strongly encourage you to attend this multi-day hearing in person, and plan to testify if you are a party of record. You are a party of record if you have previously testified by providing written or oral comments. If you are able to testify (and are a party of record) please fill out this short survey (https://forms.gle/BshZvJrnSkk9mY7L8), or contact us (vpnaboise@gmail.com). If you need help with your testimony or have questions, please feel free to contact us as well.

We encourage in-person attendance. Advance registration is not required for in-person attendance or testimony. If you are only able to testify via Zoom, this is the link to sign up in advance (we believe the same link signs you up for all of the hearing dates): https://cityofboise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0YgGkE3kQpKFNmgaEtDFTA

We expect the first day of the hearing, Monday April 18th, to begin with presentations from both Interfaith and the Neighborhood Association followed by Q&A. While there won’t likely be public testimony that first day, it is very important that the neighborhood makes a strong in-person showing to demonstrate to Council our commitment. Public testimony is expected to begin on Tuesday the 19th at 10 AM. We know it will be a challenge for many of you to make it there, but please make a commitment to do so. There is a lot riding on this week-long hearing. Fortunately we are in a strong position. Please plan to attend!

THE APPEAL

The Veterans Park Neighborhood Association disagrees with Interfaith’s appeal, and strongly supports upholding the Planning & Zoning Commission’s denial of the CUP. You can view the relevant appeal documents:

T-SHIRTS

Some neighborhood residents have asked how they can get one of the Lavender T-Shirts that many neighborhood residents wore during the Planning & Zoning hearings. During those earlier hearings, Boise Neighbors for Better Housing supporters had a large effective presence of “Boise, Better!” T-shirts in the room, and provided consistent, objective, and respectful testimony.

We need to show a large presence again! You can get a T-shirt by contacting bnbh.nsos@gmail.com. Even if you are not a party of record, please plan to attend in person and wear your lavender t-shirt!

DONATIONS

As you can imagine, these efforts are expensive. And, we expect our Legal Counsel to play a much greater role going forward. You can help by donating to the legal fund either through Boise Neighbors for Better Housing (BNBH), who has the primary financial administration role in this matter, or to the VPNA, who is a registered 501(c)3 so contributions are tax deductible if that benefits you. Below are ways you can donate:

  • To BNBH via PayPal at info@boisebetter.org
  • To BNBH via VenMo at @boisebetter
  • To donate to BNBH via check, contact ckerickson@c4dsi.org for more info
  • To VPNA via PayPal at VPNAboise@gmail.com (‘sending to a friend’ avoids the service fee)
  • To donate to VPNA via check payable to Veterans Park Neighborhood Association, you can either:
    • mail your donation check to VPNA at PO Box 6598; Boise, ID 83707
    • Visit Horizon Federal Credit Union at 1010 N Whitewater Park Blvd, Boise, ID 83703 and drop off your donation to the Veterans Park Neighborhood Association account with a teller

Thank you so much for advocating for our neighborhood

Zoning Code Rewrite Public Sessions

The City of Boise has been working on rewriting its zoning code. This is an important activity that impacts everyone in the City, but will likely have greater impact for the Veterans Park Neighborhood and other neighborhoods along Boise’s key corridors such as State Street.

Recently the City has released “Module 2” of their work to rewrite the code. It includes draft zoning code and zoning maps and the like. For more information please click the link in the below message from the City.

The City has scheduled a number of sessions, and if interested, please plan on attending the one at Boise High on April 6th (which is for our Planning Area); but it is OK to go to a different session, if you would like or the date/time doesn’t work, such as the one at Hillside Junior High on March 9th.

The City’s message follows:.

The City of Boise is excited to release Module 2 of the Zoning Code Rewrite. The Zoning Code Rewrite team is headed to your neighborhood planning area and staff would like to encourage you and your neighbors to attend these meetings. Staff will be talking specifically about how these proposed changes will affect your neighborhood. If people are not able to attend their specific meeting, we also have some community events lined up.

We encourage folks to sign up early and for the full list of events, please sign up here.

If you have additional questions specifically about the ZCR, please email zoninginfo@cityofboise.org and one of our staff will be able to speak more candidly.

2/12/202211:00am-1:00pmHousing + ZCRMain Library! William Hayes Aud.
2/16/20225:30-7:00pmWest BenchLibrary! at Cole & Ustick
2/23/20225:30-7:30pmHousing + ZCRZOOM
3/1/20225:30-7:00pmSouthwestWest Junior High Library
3/9/20225:30-7:00pmFoothillsHillside Junior High Library
3/12/202211:00am-12:30pmCommunityZOOM
3/15/20225:30-7:00pmNorthwestRiverglen
3/31/20225:30-7:00pmSoutheast / AirportLes Bois Junior High Library
3/29/202211:30-1:00pmCommunityZOOM
4/6/20225:30-7:00pmNorth End / East EndBoise High Library

Donation Drive

VPNA ended the year co-hosting a donation drive with Boise Neighbors for Better Housing to collect warm coats and other winter gear (including warm blankets, gloves, hats, boots, etc.) to distribute to shelters and organizations supporting the underserved throughout town! The main drive was 12/29, with additional donations collected throughout the week. We collected multiple car loads of donated items, and have distributed large loads of pre-sorted donations to the new pop-up shelter in the Linen Building started by Boise Mutual Aid, Corpus Christie, Interfaith Sanctuary, Boise Rescue Mission’s River of Life and City Lights shelters, Astegos, and the Phoenix Building, and some donations continue to be collected and distributed. Thank you neighbors for your donations!

Interfaith Update

INTERFAITH UPDATE January 6, 2021 – On Monday night, the Planning and Zoning Commissioners deliberated for over an hour and a half, after three hearings dedicated to public testimony, eventually voting 5 to 1 to deny the application for Interfaith Sanctuary to relocate and expand to State Street. While we are still waiting for the final Reason Statement (the official findings), all of the Commissioners voting to deny the application agreed that the project proposed would create impacts on the surrounding area that were not mitigated by the proposed conditions.

It was clear from the deliberation that Commissioners had deeply engaged with the entire project record, and had spent a long time considering their decisions. Having spent the last year engaging with the questions this application raises, we can deeply empathize with the internal struggle many commissioners expressed in having to vote to deny a proposal for an organization serving an immensely important mission. However, the law requires that a Conditional Use Permit be issued only if the project can be implemented without adversely affecting other properties of the vicinity. Concerned neighbors have been asking questions about impacts to the vicinity since January of 2021, and Interfaith did not provide a response to these impacts.

Yet, in the days since the decision, we regret that we have seen social media attacking the Commissioners on a personal level, attacking the Commissioners as not taking their duty to make this decision seriously, and even calling this decision “NIMBYism” though, at least as far as we are aware, no commissioner lives or works in an area that may be impacted by the proposed project.

We would like to thank the Commission for the long hours they spent listening to testimony and reviewing the record to make an objective decision based on the required criteria laid forth in Boise’s Zoning Ordinance and Idaho land use law. While we see that the evidence on record unequivocally supports the Commission’s denial due to the impact on the surrounding area, we do recognize that this has been a difficult decision to make, and thank the Commissioners for their dedication to applying the rule of law impartially.

Here are a few of the quotes from the January 3 hearing that are worth highlighting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U13xrX-S-fA:

Commissioner Mooney (1:12): “Frankly, I was amazed at the amount of detail and research that the neighbors did in understanding this problem. I mean, they treated it with wonderful compassion about what’s the right thing to do here.”

Commissioner Mooney (1:59): “I’m trying to bend over to accommodate what is obviously an immensely important mission that this charitable organization is up to.”

Commissioner Gillespie (2:02): “I just can’t figure out how to get conditions in that mitigate the adverse impact to that neighborhood.”

Commissioner Blanchard (2:04): “I didn’t see a way we could condition our way out of this. … I agree with one of the statements made earlier made by Commissioner Mooney – I think it is a really heavy lift and there’s not much we can do. IFS is going it alone, and that’s a shame! PDP 4 says the City is supposed to be taking a leadership role in planning for and coordinating regional growth, and that would include providing these kind of services to these residents. What’s happened throughout the Valley is that everybody has exported their homelessness to Boise… there needs to be a lot more of a solution than IFS going this alone.”

Commissioner Danley (2:07, on a vote to deny the application):

“To the applicant: This isn’t something I want to do; this isn’t something I don’t think any of us want to do. It drives me nuts that this State doesn’t help out in this issue more than it does. We don’t fund the Housing Trust Fund. We have so few limited tools. The applicant is absolutely not a person trying to ruin any part of this City. They are doing everything they can to support a part of this City that needs support. It kills me that this is where we are. Nevertheless, this is what I do believe at this point and time is the right thing to do.

With regard to the public: A lot of folks were part of this process. A lot of folks wrote us, a lot of folks came and spoke to us. It takes a lot of courage to do that, and I appreciate that. I know that some things were maybe said that maybe shouldn’t have been with regard to some folks who might be homeless. I regret hearing some of those things.

But I also regret hearing that the neighborhood, by and large, is nothing but NIMBYs, because I don’t believe that to be true as well. I think there’s a lot of concern on both sides of the aisle here its being worked out in this discussion.

…A conditional use permit can not be granted due to the lack of information regarding mitigating the adverse effect that the development and or operation of the proposed use may have upon other properties or upon the ability of political subdivisions to provide services for the proposed use. That’s where I am, we just simply don’t have enough information. I can say with a full heart that I’ve tried the best I can to get us there. I KNOW that to be the case.

I was disappointed in some of the responses. I really want to go further, I really want to say more, especially having experienced certain comments that were made, especially at the second hearing, that I didn’t think were right. I will say this, we were accused of injecting our own personal beliefs, or whatever the comment that was made.

That was nothing but a distraction from our responsibility as a Commission, as per LLUPA, as per our Code, as per representing the public, the Commission, the City, AND the Applicant. That’s what we have to do. The effort we put forward that night was about THAT, pure and simple.”

Commissioner Mooney (2:11): “We’re asked to assess the claim of future impact. And its sleepless nights to figure that out. I can’t in my mind understand how we can approve this without impacting that neighborhood.”

Commissioner Mohr (2:13): “A lot of my mind was based on, ‘Well, can we condition it properly?’ Being left in that realm of leaning on the Commission here to condition it from the dais, as opposed to being conditioned before it makes it here…is a tough position to be in.”

Commissioners Gillespie, Blanchard, Danley, Mooney, and Mohr voted to deny CUP21-00026. Commissioner Stead did not support the motion to deny.

We Need You!

Thank you to everyone who is already planning to testify at the continuation of the Interfaith Sanctuary Conditional Use Permit (CUP) hearing at City Hall or on Zoom this Monday, December 6th at 4 PM. 


If you haven’t already signed up to testify in person, or via Zoom, we need you! We need as many people as possible to testify at Monday’s hearing. While we would like to have you there in person, but you can also sign up for the Zoom and testify in that manner. We have pre-written testimonies that you can use, or you can give your own. 


Please contact VPNA at vpnaboise@gmail.com if you can provide testimony on Monday. Sign-up details are below. 


Note: the hearing starts at 4 PM, but we expect it to go late, so if you cannot join until a bit later in the day, please let us know. It should be fine.


You can sign up for the hearing on Monday, December 6th at:
 – Hearing Sign-up (bottom of page) in-person & zoom: https://www.cityofboise.org/events/pds/2021/december/planning-and-zoning-commission/
 – Zoom Sign-up: https://cityofboise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_y7lkKoi3RBuTrAhI3R1kVQ

Interfaith Sanctuary Move Update

Click here for an update on the Interfaith Sanctuary proposal to move to 4306 W State Street. This update covers the below items:

  • An update on the project
  • Neighborhood concerns
  • Take the survey
  • Write Letters to P&Z and City Council
  • Attend and Speak at the hearing
  • How to donate

Your written comments are due in to Planning and Zoning by November 12:

Send an e-mail to the following:zoninginfo@cityofboise.org

Also Email City Council and the Mayor:
• City Council –  citycouncil@cityofboise.org
• Elaine Clegg – eclegg@cityofboise.org
• Lisa Sanchez – lsanchez@cityofboise.org
• TJ Thomson – tjthomson@cityofboise.org
• Holly Woodings – hwoodings@cityofboise.org
• Jimmy Hallyburton – jhallyburton@cityofboise.org
• Patrick Bageant – pbageant@cityofboise.org
• Mayor McLean’s Email Address: mayormclean@cityofboise.org

You are welcome to copy us at:vpnaboise@gmail.com

Reference CUP21-00026 in your e-mail, and state whether you support or oppose the application.

You are welcome to use the talking points listed in the Neighborhood Concerns in the update, but we strongly encourage you to use your own words and share your own experiences for maximum impact.

Ideally, comments will relate to the review criteria:
1) is the location compatible with other uses in the general neighborhood?;
2) will the use place an undue burden on transportation and other public facilities in the vicinity?;
3)Is the site large enough to accommodate the proposed use?;
4) Will the proposed use adversely impact other property in the vicinity?;
5) Is the proposed use in compliance with Boise’s Comprehensive Plan?

Attend the Planning & Zoning meeting on November 15, and testify. Bring your neighbors.
(Sign ups will be available around the beginning of October. We anticipate the meeting will go very long; your testimony can be very brief if you’d like – name, address, and support/oppose position. We’d like to have a huge turn out.)

*Note, the planning and zoning decision will likely be appealed, either way, and the project will then be presented at City Council at least one month later. It could also take a few months to get on the City Council calendar. To testify at City Council, you must have provided written or oral testimony to Planning & Zoning as well. Plan to attend when the meeting is scheduled!

Sign the petition on Change.org!
http://chng.it/mrcK2ZBSrX

Make a Donation

Donations to the legal fund are being collected by Boise Neighbors for Better Housing, and can be made in the following ways:
1) PayPal at PayPal.me/BoiseBetter or to info@BoiseBetter.org
2) Venmo to @BoiseBetter under “Businesses” (or, last four digits are #3227)
3) Checks can be deposited to BNBH at the USBank in the Albertsons at 36th and State St.

Take the Veterans Park Neighborhood Survey on Interfaith Sanctuary’s Application to Relocate to State Street

Click to take the survey

Interfaith Sanctuary has submitted an application for a conditional use permit, CUP21-00026, to the City of Boise’s planning department to open a low-barrier emergency homeless shelter at 4306 West State Street, the property formerly housing a Salvation Army thrift store, warehouse, and weekend food pantry. The proposed shelter will include 205 beds, plus space for cribs and toddler beds, and at least 20 floor mats to accommodate additional overflow sleeping (though they have said no one will be turned away). The proposed shelter will also offer daytime services such as programming and job training as well as overnight accommodations. The shelter will include space for families, single men, single women, and medically fragile guests.

As part of our comments to the City at the November 15 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, we would like to present a broad survey of our neighborhood residents’ and neighborhood business owners’ opinions to demonstrate the level of engagement on this issue. Each adult member of a household may complete the survey individually. Thank you for your help taking this survey!

Please click the link for more information, and to take the survey