Variance hearing tomorrow at 6 pm, 200 signers, AJC and MDJ articles

As most of you are aware, the Variance will be heard Monday August 28th (tomorrow) at Marietta City Hall, 205 Lawrence St, Marietta 30060. Parking is available on an upper and lower deck next to the City Hall building and the walkway leads to the main floor and Council meeting room. The meeting begins at 6:00 pm so plan to be inside the building by 5:45. Parking may be a challenge so leave early. The MUST Variance is first on the Agenda after announcements. The Variance made front page of the Sunday Marietta Daily Journal. The reporter interviewed Dr. Reighard, CEO of MUST and referred to the Petition blog. Here is a link to the article: http://www.mdjonline.com/news/marietta-zoning-board-to-mull-new-homeless-shelter-for-must/article_b3148b26-8ac7-11e7-9d4f-2b2f39aaca35.html We received a letter of Stipulations late Thursday from Mr. Rozen, attorney for MUST. MUST conceded that the community does have concerns but his plan is to create a liaison staff position to hear the concerns of the community rather than agreeing to curtail services. MUST stated that hours of access to the shelter building would be as they currently are: 6:30 am to 9:00 pm 7 days a week. However as stated on the MUST Elizabeth Inn web page, the campus is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. https://www.mustministries.org/pages/4.-locations/elizabeth-inn-location#.WaMuoVEpDiw Mr. Rozen suggested the case could be continued again, to work more with the community and work on the language in the stipulations letter. After 3.5 months, however, finding common ground does not seem likely. The current site occupied by MUST has 1.794 acres and is zoned Light Industrial, which permits a shelter. The level lot at 1260 Cobb Parkway where MUST would like to build a new shelter shows a .78 acre footprint. This means that MUST has more than enough land at their current site to double the size of their shelter. They can also build without another public process, and build it via a permitting process with Cobb County government. In terms of criteria for a Variance on the new property, MUST appears to have what is called a self-imposed hardship. It also is evident that granting MUST the Variance to relieve their “hardship” would impose a far greater hardship on the surrounding community and Public Safety. After 3.5 months, it is clear that MUST does not intend to come to a meaningful compromise with the community regarding limiting day services to the unsheltered homeless in the area, many of whom have substance abuse and mental health issues. MUST is not set up to treat these problems, yet they continue to provide services that enable the unsheltered to remain in the area, close to neighborhoods. Throughout this application the petition blog has acknowledged MUST's good work in Cobb and the region and has kept the discourse civil and factual. The overarching community concern is the size and proximity of a group of 50 to 70 unsheltered homeless men who have serious untreated issues. They are camping near neighborhoods and receiving generous goods and services from MUST without restriction. MUST has declined the community's request to curtail services to this population, and instead offered to create a staff liaison to listen to ongoing community concerns. There is is a recent and disturbing example of how deeply troubled some of the unsheltered homeless are. On August 17 a MUST "Outreach Client" was arrested and charged with Aggravated Cruelty to Animals, a Felony. Read the AJC story at: http://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-cops-man-killed-kitten-dropping-rock-its-head/wJxY79fFcG882RRkKgogyK/ Tomorrow evening, we will ask the Marietta Board of Zoning Appeals to Deny Variance 2017-22. If the BZA approves it, we will plan to appeal to Marietta City Council. See you tomorrow and please continue to ask your friends and neighbors to sign the petition.