Family Promise shelter gets OK on former Nesquehoning church renovations

The Nesquehoning Zoning Hearing Board voted 2-1 Tuesday night to allow Family Promise to open an emergency shelter in the borough.

The hearing, conducted by board attorney Michael Greek, revolved around the special exception use and variance application of the former St. Francis of Assisi church and rectory, located at 140 W. Mill St.

Attorney Kim Roberti, representing Family Promise, called his first witness, Sky Fogal, former president and current board member of the program to testify and explain the efforts behind Family Promise.

“We’re bringing in homeless children and their families — that’s what we do,” Fogal said.

Fogal answered questions regarding the basic demographics of the property and what plans may look like for the former church. Future spacing plans include using the rectory predominantly for office space, the garage as storage for furniture donations and the kitchen located in the church’s basement for dietary and nutrition classes.

Upon entering the program, parents are given extensive background checks and drug and alcohol screenings. Since the program is a dry and sober facility, random drug screenings are given when deemed necessary. If a parent is using drugs or alcohol, they will be removed from the program immediately.

The program receives referrals primarily from the 211 Helpline Center, which is a dialing code authorized by the Federal Communications Commission. From there, the program receives a list of homeless families within the area, but prioritizes Carbon County residents.

“Because of 211, we take in people from Carbon County, and how we do that is we prioritize Carbon County first, and there is always a waitlist. To the best of my knowledge, we haven’t really taken in anyone from the neighboring counties,” Fogal said.

The program

The program consists of stabilizing the parents by receiving proper documentation such as birth certificates and driver’s licenses, taking financial, nutrition and other classes, and helping them through the job application process. The average stay of the program is 90 days.

The second witness, executive director of Family Promise Krista Brown-Ly, explained that not only do the family residents get screened, but all employees and volunteers are given the same background checks and drug and alcohol screenings including Megan’s Law and the Pennsylvania State child abuse clearance.

Brown-Ly said there has never been a violent incident involving residents on the program’s premises.

Currently, nine congregations participate in the program, and Brown-Ly hopes the Nesquehoning property would become the 10th, and ideally 13 locations in the future.

“If are able to have 13 host congregations, that way it would reduce the number of nights families would stay in one location and be transported to other churches,” Brown-Ly said. “Congregations are throughout Carbon County including Lehighton, Weissport, Palmerton and Jim Thorpe.”

Resident comments

After the testimonies of the two witnesses, the floor was opened to the public for comments.

Nesquehoning resident Richard Stromelo submitted to the board a petition signed by other residents against the homeless shelter.

Stromelo read a statement on behalf of the residents.

“You as a zoning hearing board have a duty and obligation to them and the borough of Nesquehoning to keep us safe and to use your power on the board to reject and not grant this variance,” Stromelo said.

“Family Promise is not a financially stable entity, and clearly have to rely on grants, funding and donations from sources which are unpredictable.”

Another Nesquehoning resident Bertha Shreffler had an opposing view from the other residents.

“I am for Family Promise. This is a place where children stay with their parents,” Streffler said. “We have so many people walking the streets now, I don’t even know who they are, but to give someone an opportunity to better their lives is an improvement. And, for our town to say ‘yes’ to allow that to happen is God’s work at hand.”

The decision

After 45 minutes of deliberation, the special exception for Family Promise was granted under the following conditions: the use of the rectory comply with any uniform construction code requirements and inspection as well as any labor and industry requirements, installation of a fire escape on the second and third floors and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, any changes to use of the church require planning and zoning approval, limited to 15 participants of the program at a time, all associated with the program must go through proper background checks and screenings and comply with all Nesquehoning borough zoning and ordinance requirements including sewage and sanitation.

The decision will be provided 45 days, and anybody who has standing on the decision will have 30 days to appeal it to Court of Common Pleas of Carbon County.

In October, the Carbon County Commissioners held a hearing regarding shifting $50,000 from the 2018 Community Development Block Grant project fund for Banks Township to Family Promise for help in the purchase of the property, which costs $80,000.