RFP Staff
♦ Thursday the Rowan Free Press learned the town of Spencer revoked a permit allowing a permanent/transitional residence for 28 homeless veterans at 418 South Carolina Avenue in Spencer, N.C. The building is owned by the Col. Abram Penn Veterans Foundation. It was hoped the Foundation’s residence would have a ribbon cutting ceremony this coming Monday and start being a home to mentally and physically disabled vets in about 60 days after repairs and renovations were complete. But those hopes ended owing to a failure of due diligence. According to zoning rules the veteran’s home could not be located within one mile of a similar assisted living facility. Recently it was discovered that the new veteran’s home was less than 3/10ths of a mile away from an assisted living facility at 120 10th Street. When Spencer officials learned of the error, they promptly revoked the permit.
Spencer officials originally issued the zoning permit to Dr. Tim Heath, the Col. Abram Penn Veteran’s Foundation chairman, to run a facility providing 24-hour supervision of homeless vets.
Several residents, in the area near the proposed veteran’s home on the 400 block of South Carolina Avenue in Spencer, were critical of having homeless vets with mental disabilities wandering around the neighborhood. They also could not foresee how 28 men could be warehoused in such a building.
“Veterans should be honored,” said a neighbor, remaining anonymous. “They put their lives on the line for our country, but having men who are mentally ill or addicted in our neighborhood isn’t a smart. There’s other areas better suited for these persons. These people act up. That’s why they have state mental hospitals away from residential areas. I hate to be against fighting men under most circumstances, but this is different. Having these men here would make people uneasy. It would lower property values. Who wants to live next to a group home for mental patients and addicts? 28 men packed that house isn’t right either.”
It’s unknown exactly where a new homeless veteran facility might be found. But area residents remain alarmed that a single family residence would be retrofitted to pack in 28 mentally ill and addicted veterans. A similar but smaller facility in East Spencer on Pinetree Street caused area experienced difficulties when the mentally ill wandered aimlessly throughout the neighborhood during the day, knocking on doors to use the telephone and looking into windows to see if people were home. Some used neighbors’ yards as latrines. Little could be done, once they were ‘in’. The Pinetree Street facility is under the same common ownership as the home at 418 South Carolina Avenue.
Links to documents
Veterans Home Application with Misstatement of Vicinity: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2E5Ew6OLdElelI0eUp4TkEzSE0/edit?usp=sharing
Zoning Definitions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2E5Ew6OLdElNi0zeE5kVm1lNmM/edit?usp=sharing
Summary of Spencer Revocation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2E5Ew6OLdElM2l5M1dia2d6VFk/edit?usp=sharing
