Members of the Centre City Advisory Committee voted Sept. 20 to recommend that the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) approve funding and assistance for the Volunteers of America (VOA) in finding a temporary detox center in downtown, capping the assistance to $1.3 million.
The advisory committee voted 15-2 in favor of the measure, with three abstentions, with the suggestion of spending the requested funds on a permanent location for the VOA, not on temporary facilities, according to staff reports.
A joint CCDC committee met on Sept. 13 and voted unanimously to further review the recommendation to assist VOA on Sept. 20.
The decision now lies in the hands of the CCDC to approve assistance for the temporary relocation, with consideration of finding a permanent location. The CCDC met Wednesday, Sept. 27, to vote on the matter, though a decision was not available before press time.
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 November 2005, they received two lease extensions from current landowner Barratt American, with negotiation 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 $1.3 million would go toward the purchase and improvement of two or more modular buildings to be installed on a level, graded, 7,500-square-foot site, said CCDC Senior Project Manager John Collum.
“We’re going with the idea that there won’t be a cost for the site itself,” Collum continued. “The city or the corporation will already own it.”
The District 2 office requested that the Corporation assist in the efforts to determine suitable downtown location for the VOA, according to the staff report for the Sept. 20 advisory committee meeting.
“I believe that the [CCDC] joint-committee that 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 was 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, including two CCDC-owned locations available to locate modular buildings. The first “” on Broadway between 13th and 14th streets “” CCDC 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 [CCDC] corporation-controlled or city-controlled.”
CCDC 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 requirements in order to implement this project. A timeframe is also being developed.