City Hall
SODO Business Group: Lawsuit Over Homeless Encampment Likely
Mike Peringer, head of the SODO Business Association, says his group will "probably" challenge Mayor Mike McGinn's proposal to locate a new "semipermanent" homeless encampment on the site of the former Sunny Jim's peanut butter plant in the neighborhood, but is biding its time until the proposal has gone through environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
"This is going to be open to legal challenges on three different fronts," he says. First, opponents can challenge the proposal based on state law, which says industrial areas aren't suitable for housing. Second, they can lobby the council against changing the city's land use code, which would have to be rewritten to allow people to live on the site. And third, they can challenge any SEPA determination in court, something council land-use committee chair Sally Clark has said seems virtually certain to happen.
McGinn has proposed opening the encampment in October, a timeline city council members have called optimistic , noting that the city hasn't even started on the numerous environmental reviews and zoning changes that will have to happen before people can live on the industrial site.
Peringer says his group isn't "opposed to a homeless camp"---they just think the site McGinn has chosen is totally inappropriate.
"First of all, it's in a location that doesn't have any services whatsoever. You have to go three-quarters of a mile to get a loaf of broad, and the bus service is lousy," Peringer says. And with the site so close to "the Jungle"---an overgrown city-owned hillside where numerous homeless people camp, "as soon as you put the facility there, they're going to come down in droves to get" to the encampment. Finally, he said, "the idea of hiring [camp management duties] out to a third party has raised some suspicion."
The current tent city, known as Nickelsville, is located in a decommissioned firehouse in Lake City, where most neighbors have been supportive. "Why move it from a place that's working?" Peringer asks. "There are services there and they can get downtown and get to work."
Unless the city council changes the zoning to allow permanent residences, however, Nickelsville has to be out of the Lake City location by this May.
McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus didn't immediately return an after-hours email seeking comment, but we'll update when we hear back from the mayor's office.
"This is going to be open to legal challenges on three different fronts," he says. First, opponents can challenge the proposal based on state law, which says industrial areas aren't suitable for housing. Second, they can lobby the council against changing the city's land use code, which would have to be rewritten to allow people to live on the site. And third, they can challenge any SEPA determination in court, something council land-use committee chair Sally Clark has said seems virtually certain to happen.
McGinn has proposed opening the encampment in October, a timeline city council members have called optimistic , noting that the city hasn't even started on the numerous environmental reviews and zoning changes that will have to happen before people can live on the industrial site.
Peringer says his group isn't "opposed to a homeless camp"---they just think the site McGinn has chosen is totally inappropriate.
"First of all, it's in a location that doesn't have any services whatsoever. You have to go three-quarters of a mile to get a loaf of broad, and the bus service is lousy," Peringer says. And with the site so close to "the Jungle"---an overgrown city-owned hillside where numerous homeless people camp, "as soon as you put the facility there, they're going to come down in droves to get" to the encampment. Finally, he said, "the idea of hiring [camp management duties] out to a third party has raised some suspicion."
The current tent city, known as Nickelsville, is located in a decommissioned firehouse in Lake City, where most neighbors have been supportive. "Why move it from a place that's working?" Peringer asks. "There are services there and they can get downtown and get to work."
Unless the city council changes the zoning to allow permanent residences, however, Nickelsville has to be out of the Lake City location by this May.
McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus didn't immediately return an after-hours email seeking comment, but we'll update when we hear back from the mayor's office.
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