DeKalb City Council OKs zoning change for new Safe Passage site

DeKALB – The DeKalb City Council gave the approval last week for a rezoning proposal for a local domestic violence and sexual assault crisis nonprofit’s new building site.

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said during the Dec. 14 City Council meeting that the new building will allow the organization to provide its services for its clients out of one building, including providing living quarters, instead of its current five single-family homes and one apartment building.

“And their services are wide and essential in our community,” Nicklas said.

The City Council voted, 7-0, to approve a rezoning that would allow the agency to build a two-story building on the former site of the now-demolished DeKalb Clinic building at 217 Franklin St., for which demolition began about a month ago. Seventh Ward Alderman Anthony Faivre was absent from the meeting.

Nicklas said he expects most of the houses used by Safe Passage currently could be sold as single-family homes.

Mary Ellen Schaid, executive director for Safe Passage, had one initial word in reaction to the vote: Hallelujah.

“It’s been a long journey,” Schaid said Monday.

The update comes after the agency previously eyed the St. Mary’s Hospital building at 145 Fisk Ave., but later dropped the plans, citing renovation cost concerns.

City officials said the 42,000-square-foot building that eventually will be built on Franklin Street will house meeting and service space, offices and provide available shelter space for more than 60 people. Schaid said the agency has to turn away 15 to 20 people a month at its current location because the shelter can only house five families because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So that means we’re having to seek funding to keep people in hotels, people that need emergency shelter,” Schaid said.

Schaid said the somewhat crowded conditions with the current congregate living situation were a concern even before the pandemic, calling the five-bedroom, 1½-bath house “woefully inadequate” for the agency’s needs.

“I think it’s really important that we have a sufficient number of beds and space,” Schaid said.

Building and zoning officials previously voiced concerns about parking regarding the proposal.

According to a Friday city of DeKalb social media post, the new building will have 18 parking spaces on site. The agency has reached an agreement with the St. George Greek Orthodox Church to share a 32-space parking lot across the street and the city’s Vaughn Parking Lot is less than a block away.

The agency is using mostly on-street parking at its current location, according to the post.

While the rezoning piece of the project has cleared, Schaid said, the agency still has a long way to go before residents can move into the new shelter.

“But it’s still an accomplishment,” Schaid said. “We’re very happy to have that behind us.”