No site has been found, almost a year after the idea of establishing a homeless shelter in Morrisville was presented to the town’s development review board.
Organizers are still talking about what the shelter will look like, what its functions will be, and where it should be located.
At this point, Morrisville will have no shelter this winter, said Will Eberle of the Vermont Agency of Human Resources. It will take at least until spring to get any type of shelter open.
The steering committee is still working on the project.
“Capstone Community Action is looking to set up a public forum on housing needs in the area, to restart the dialogue on what this community needs,” said Eric Peterson, Capstone’s service coordinator. “We are trying to get more information about the community and the overall resources that are already available.”
The Patchworks Place Homeless Shelter initially requested a permit last October for a 12-bed facility adjacent to Community College of Vermont, in the same building as Lamoille Community Food Share.
The property, located at 197 Harrel St., is owned by Sonny Demars and is in an industrial zone. After review, town officials decided the shelter didn’t belong in an industrial zone.
Finding a new location has been a struggle.
There’s been a lot of community debate about the project, and a second potential site was never offered to the development board because of public pushback.
The steering committee hopes to clarify the project by November.
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