The Dalles City Council voted unanimously to adopt an amendment to a zoning ordinance that will permit homeless shelters in commercial zones at their meeting on Jan. 10.
According to Community Development Director Alice Cannon at the previous meeting on Dec. 13, this amendment is part of a push across the state to help make shelter housing more accessible. In an attempt to address the situation, Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill in May that requires local governments to allow shelter housing anywhere within the urban growth boundary.
Cannon said the state bill will be in effect until June 2022, since it is an emergency measure. Any shelter created before then will be allowed to remain wherever they were established. By adding this code now, Cannon said they hope to make sure shelters have protection even once the state bill “sunsets,” or goes out of effect.
This amendment will allow shelters to be created in both general commercial and commercial light industrial areas throughout the city. In the original version of the amendment, presented on Dec. 13, general commercial areas would only allow shelters that obtain approval for a conditional use permit from the planning commission.
However, following a statement by Mid-Columbia Community Action Council Director Kenny LaPoint at the Dec. 13 meeting, the council requested that this be revised. This revision serves to prevent MCCAC from getting caught up in the permit-requesting process, which could cause them to lose funding for the navigation center that will serve as the main shelter in The Dalles.
Additionally, the amendment was adapted to no longer require on-site bathing facilities, providing flexibility for them to instead utilize off-site facilities, following a request by Councilor Darcy Long at the Dec. 13 meeting. Bathing facilities will still be available in some capacity, as that is included in the state bill.
With the advised changes having been made between meetings, the amendment passed unanimously.
LaPoint thanked the council for their response to MCCAC’s concerns with the ordinance. He also said that he expected to update the council on the navigation center development process sometime in mid-February, stating that a lot of progress has been made.
“We are moving rather quickly and there’s been a lot of updates over the last month and a half,” LaPoint said.
The next city council meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 24, via Zoom.
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