Plans for new Homeless Services Center in SLO to be unveiled Wednesday
Plans for the Homeless Services Center proposed for Prado Road near Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo are expected to be unveiled publicly for the first time Wednesday as the city’s Planning Commission considers approving a use permit to build it.
Once open, the center will replace the Prado Day center and the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter in San Luis Obispo and double the number of beds available in the city. The new 24-hour facility at 40 Prado Road adjacent to Sunset Drive-in will be operated by Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County.
Preliminary plans call for a single-story, 20,000-square-foot building that will accommodate up to 150 beds, a commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, showers, lockers and storage, as well as offices for caseworkers, a classroom for children and community and multipurpose rooms. Separate dorms for men, women and families will be built.
“The distance between (existing) facilities along with the limited space of each structure has been a barrier for our clients as they travel daily from one source of assistance to the other; often times clients may be turned away due to lack of space,” according to a project description submitted to the city by CAPSLO. “Having all services located on site will enable clients to remain on-campus instead of traveling across town and placing additional burdens on the local neighborhoods.”
The building is designed around a central courtyard, where clients will have access to outdoor space such as a children’s play area and a kennel area where pets can be kept.
The project plans include parking for up to 80 vehicles and 50 bicycles.
The city's safe parking program for the homeless, which provides seven safe, legal spaces for people to sleep in their vehicles overnight, will be moved from the Prado Day Center to the new homeless services campus. The overnight parking program was launched on a pilot basis in March 2012 after increased enforcement by police left many homeless people camping on the streets with no place to go.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided at the new center, as well as case management, mental health counseling and drug and alcohol outpatient services.
According to CAPSLO, there will be 24 full-time and 12 part-time employees, six case managers and volunteers staffing the facility.
A minimum of four shelter staff will be onsite during the day and three overnight.
A Neighborhood Relations Plan, required by the city, outlines the steps that CAPSLO must take to mitigate the potential impacts the Homeless Services Center’s activities will have on the community.
A security system, video- and photo-enabled, will be installed in common areas, outside the building and in parking areas to monitor the homeless center.
An after-hours confidential hotline will be made available for community concerns. Additionally, all businesses within a quarter-mile radius of the project will receive contact information for CAPSLO employees who can respond to concerns.
CAPSLO partnered with the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority in June to purchase 9.7 acres at 40 Prado Road from Condor Enterprises LLC for $2.3 million.
CAPSLO’s portion of the site is about 3.3 acres, and includes 56,000 square feet set aside for future road improvements.
RTA will use its 6.5 acres to park and maintain buses and house dispatch and administration departments sometime in the future.
The use permit being considered by the Planning Commission on Wednesday is necessary for the project to move forward. The city’s Architectural Review Commission is scheduled to review the project’s design in January.
This story was originally published December 7, 2014 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Plans for new Homeless Services Center in SLO to be unveiled Wednesday."