The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) board voted unanimously to approve funding and assistance to the Volunteers of America (VOA) in finding a temporary detox center in downtown, at their Sept. 27 board meeting.
After weeks of recommendations, the board solidified the CCDC assistance of $1.3 million that would go toward the purchasing and improvements of two or more modular buildings that would be installed on a level-graded, 7,500-square-foot site, said CCDC Senior Project Manager John Collum, despite the Advisory Committee’s suggestion of spending the money on a permanent location instead.
VOA, a non-profit organization that runs the detox center, is losing its lease at 1111 Island Ave. in the East Village on Dec. 31. Originally due to move by Nov. 2005, they received two lease extensions by current landowner, Barratt American, with assistance from District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer. Earlier this year, City Council denied a VOA request for a condition use permit (CUP) that would have allowed all of its services to be moved to a Pacific Beach location.
The City Council District 2 office requested that the Corporation assist in the efforts to determine a suitable downtown location for the VOA, according to staff reports for the board meeting.
“I believe that the board joint-committee that [first] heard the item felt that it was important that this service be provided the necessary funds it needed in order to continue to operate downtown,” Collum said. “They felt that the services that they were providing for the downtown community [were] important enough that they should be involved in helping them find a place to relocate as they had requested.”
Currently, there are numerous sites being considered for the relocation. According to staff reports there are two CCDC-controlled sites available to locate modular buildings. The first, located on Broadway between 13th and 14th streets, the corporation is in the process of purchasing for the planned East Village fire station. The station construction timeframe is to be determined. The second, located between Park Boulevard and 11th Avenue and between G and Market Streets, was purchased several years ago with the intention of constructing an affordable housing project.
“We’re going to continue to work to try to find a location that would provide the fewest impacts on downtown as possible,” said Collum, “but we’re still in the midst of working with the council district office on trying to figure out where those locations are. We do believe that there may be locations other than the two mentioned in the reports. They would have to be corporation-controlled or city-controlled.”
The Corporation would then lease the building and site to the VOA, on a short-term basis “” 18 months with an optional 18-month extension “” until they can find a permanent home.
According to staff reports, funds of $1.3 million are available in the fiscal year 2007 Centre City Redevelopment Project Budget under East Village Public Improvements. A budget amendment may be necessary to transfer appropriations and funds if the location determined for temporary location is located in another area of downtown.
CCDC staff is currently in the process of determining all of the necessary steps for the modular purchase process and other California Redevelopment Law, Agency, City and Corporation requirements in order to implement this project. A project implementation timeframe is also being developed.