MorningStar pulls application for West Side homeless shelter

MorningStar Mission has given up its plan to open a homeless shelter on Joliet’s West Side, facing what it considered to be certain rejection by the city.

The plan to convert the Quality Inn on Larkin Avenue needed approval from the City Council, and the project did not have the votes, Morningstar Executive Director Sandra Perzee said Friday.

“It just seemed like it was doomed. And you know the old saying: Don’t fight city hall,” Perzee said.

Perzee, however, seemed prepared to fight City Hall after the Zoning Board of Appeals turned down the plan in December in a unanimous vote.

She said then that the U.S. Department of Justice was prepared to file a lawsuit over city rejection of the plan. Perzee said she already had consulted with the Justice Department because of opposition she was facing from City Hall even before the zoning board vote.

On Friday, Perzee said the Justice Department would have moved forward with a lawsuit but she decided against it.

“The more I thought about it and prayed about it, I thought it was not the right thing to do,” Perzee said, noting that the mission needs to continue operating in Joliet. “It was a hard decision.”

MorningStar Mission now has a homeless shelter on the East Side at 350 E. Washington St.

Perzee said the second shelter was proposed to serve the city’s growing homeless population, including those on the West Side of the city.

MorningStar planned to buy the Quality Inn with $4.3 million it would get from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which was created to provide relief and economic support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another $1 million in CARES Act money would have been used to convert the hotel into shelter and housing for the homeless.

Perzee said she believes MorningStar still can obtain the funding, but now is looking to either expand the existing location or buy another property for expansion. But MorningStar is not looking to locate on the West Side of Joliet because of opposition at City Hall, she said.

“They’re dead set against it going to the West Side,” she said.

Perzee said she did not believe the City Council would have been unanimous against the Larkin Avenue plan. But the plan would have needed a two-thirds vote of approval to overcome the zoning board’s rejection.

The proposal also faced opposition at the zoning board meeting from two businesses on Larkin Avenue. Both argued that their business already faced problems related to homeless people on Larkin Avenue and said a shelter would aggravate the situation.

MorningStar Mission had a contract to buy the Quality Inn, but needed a zoning variance and special-use permit from the city to convert the hotel into a homeless shelter.

The application for approval was to go to the City Council as early as January but never did move forward for a council vote.

“They were considering their options,” city planner Jim Torri said, noting it was MorningStar Mission’s decision not to take the proposal to the council for a vote.

Torri said MorningStar pulled its application from consideration last week.