Jefferson City will research shelter safety regulations
Melissa Houston
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Jefferson City’s Public Works and Planning Committee met on July 9 to discuss research on safety requirements for shelters, including those that house homeless individuals, and to create a draft of the ordinance.
According to the Department of Planning and Protective Services’ memorandum, officials want to find out more about:
Occupancy limits
Hours of operation
Security and safety requirements
Definitions of types of shelters
Staffing levels
Neighborhood involvement requirements
The memo states it was necessary to do further research because current shelters have no safety regulations. The memo also says staff reviewed other cities’ processes and building codes and concluded they would need more time to update and clarify Jefferson City’s ordinance.
Planning and Protective Services Director Dave Helmick said city staff wants to be prepared with a clear outline of what a shelter would look like.
“The Planning Protective Services Department’s working on is to put those definitions into our building code so that when we have someone that comes forward and wants to do a shelter of some sort, there is a clear guideline, a minimum life safety, as well as the definitions of what type of structures they are,” Helmick said.
Jefferson City Mayor Ron Fitzwater agreed there needs to be guidelines in place for when permanent shelters start to open.
“If [the] council is going to start looking at some of these facilities, we probably, probably ought to have guidelines in place to at least to guide council on what’s doable, what’s not doable,” Fitzwater said.
Housing the Community President Scott Johnston noticed the memo came not too long after the group’s petition to give Room at the Inn a permanent home.
“I guess just because of the attention paid recently to our effort on Adam Street, they realized that the city is lacking specific ordinances and regulations related to shelters,” Johnston said.
The building Room at the Inn is hoping to purchase is located at 107 Adams St. But the building must be rezoned first. The City Council will meet to vote on the final rezoning on Aug. 3.
Jefferson City Mayor Ron Fitzwater said the council wants to reach out and get input from groups that have experience with homeless shelters.
“I think the better job we do up front in crafting ordinances, the better it is for the community,” Fitzwater said. “So yeah, we want to reach out to established groups that have experience and get their feedback.”
Fitzwater said the city has been looking for a solution to security issues involving the homeless population, and this ordinance has pushed city leaders to look further into the situation.
“In the meantime, that gives us time to take that homeless task force report and really dig into it and see which pieces, you know, maybe council wants to implement,” Fitzwater said.