Tonight's hearing (11/18) before the Plymouth zoning board of appeals was almost anticlimatic in voting in favor of the Taskforce for the Homeless' petition for permission to begin our cold weather shelter program (two+ weeks later than usual), the Overnights of Hospitality.
For those who haven't followed the stories in the papers, here's a little background. Earlier this year, the state fire marshal sent the Plymouth fire chief a letter saying the overnights program could only use the parish halls we've used for five years if they have sprinkler systems for fire protection.
Needless to say, although our all-volunteer organization has over 300 volunteers who provide the services that our homeless men need, money to install expensive sprinkler systems in five parish halls was not in our pockets.
We had meetings with town officials, contacted our state senator and representatives, consulted lawyers, etc. but no hint of a solution was on the horizon as autumn started. Finally some of the negotiations resulted in a meeting with several lawyers from various departments within the Department of Public Safety.
The legal squad came down from Boston with a draft of a "regulation" that would allow us to begin the Overnights program this fall.
But there were several hoops we had to jump through first, the last of which was the appeals board hearing tonight. There were at least 70 people crowded into the small hearing room, from several clergy to our volunteers and our homeless guys.
Attorney Ed Angley introduced our case. A handful of the attendees spoke in opposition, voicing concerns about the safety of their children if homeless men were around. Good grief. . .
The other 60 attendees voiced their support, including some of the homeless men in attendance. That's a bare bones story but there'll be more news coming along.
November 19, 2009
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