Planning Board to grapple with low-barrier shelter Tuesday night

LACONIA — The question of what is an appropriate place for a low-barrier wintertime homeless shelter will be on the minds of the Laconia Planning Board when it takes up the application by Isaiah 61 Cafe, which wants to open such a facility on the edge of downtown.

“There were several abutters and owners of nearby properties who came to the meeting when the ZBA (Zoning Board of Adjustment) took up this proposal in November and I would anticipate to hear from at least some some of them,” at Tuesday night’s Planning Board meeting which takes place in the City Council Chambers starting at 6:30 p.m., Laconia Planning Director Dean Trefethen said.

“The central question (for the board to consider), is that the right location and the right circumstance for that kind of shelter,” Trefethen said.

Dawn Longval, who with her husband, Dave, operates the Isaiah 61 Cafe, a daytime drop-in center catering largely to the city’s homeless population, is applying to open the shelter which would operate nightly from December through March.

Unlike the two other homeless shelters in the city, sobriety would not be a requirement to stay at the Isaiah 61 shelter. Dawn Longval estimates that two-thirds of those staying at Isaiah might still be using alcohol or drugs.

Although the Fire Department has concluded that the space is large enough to safely accommodate 33 people, the shelter will have 24 beds, Longval said. Two supervisors will be on watch during the night, monitoring the dormitory on closed-circuit TV monitors, she added. Check-in time will be 8 to 9 p.m., with lights out at 10 p.m. Check-out time will be 8:30 a.m.

Anyone seeking shelter will be allowed to keep only their cellphone with them. All their other belongings will be locked away for the duration of their stay and returned to them only when they leave.

Should the Planning Board approve the application, it is uncertain when the shelter would open.

Longval said the opening will depend partly on how quickly she can train the volunteers who will supervise the shelter. She said about 10 people have expressed interest in volunteering.

Another issue which could affect the opening is the completion of an upgrade to the fire alarm system. She said the work on the system is currently scheduled to take place in the middle of the month. She was unsure whether the shelter could open before that upgrade was complete.

For Stephanie Farrar, the opening of the shelter can’t happen soon enough.

She has been living in a succession of homeless encampments in and near the city for nearly two years and the one where she is now is in the process of being dismantled, she said.

Farrar, who is scheduled to enter a residential drug rehab program on Friday, said the shelter will be a life-saver, just like the day services Isaiah has been offering for a number of years — hot coffee, a warm meal, or a hot shower.

“If not for this place, I’d be dead now,” said Farrar who said she is addicted to alcohol and methamphetamine and has been living on the street for 10 years.

Trefethen said, assuming the board approves the shelter, it will still need to go through the city’s building permit process before it can open.

Trefethen’s office is recommending that if the plan is approved the shelter will need to meet five conditions, the biggest one being that the Longval erect a chain link fence between the Isaiah 61 property and the abutting property at 104 New Salem St.

Donna Clairmont, who lives at 104 New Salem St., told the Zoning Board on Nov. 15 about the ongoing problems she has experienced from people who frequent the Isaiah 61 Cafe. She said that some who have wandered into her yard have been disrespectful, and that items in her yard have been stolen.