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KEENE, NH – A Keene nonprofit that operates an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness continues to search for a home of its own, after the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected its petition to use a vacant property on King Court.
At a virtual meeting Monday night, board members dismissed the petition from Hundred Nights Inc. for a change of nonconforming use at 15 King Court, where the organization had hoped to run a shelter until April 2022.
Hundred Nights requested the zoning decision for that property — the former location of Downtown Fitness Keene — on Aug. 25, but the petition was shelved in September after the zoning board granted it a land-use variance at 122–124 Water St.
The organization hopes to build a permanent facility at the Water Street site and eventually move all of its operations — which include a resource center for clients — to that location. It had planned to provide temporary units there in the meantime, Hundred Nights Executive Director Mindy Cambiar told The Sentinel Monday.
But with the zoning board’s Sept. 22 decision held up in court after an appeal last month from nearby property owners, Hundred Nights turned to 15 King Court as possible short-term housing and is also considering purchasing a bus to use as a nighttime shelter.
A change of nonconforming use would have been required to operate a lodging house at the King Court property because it is currently zoned as a fitness center and is in the city’s low-density zoning district, which does not otherwise permit lodging houses.
Representing Hundred Nights before the zoning board Monday, Jim Phippard of Brickstone Land Use Consultants in Keene said the nonprofit would temporarily provide 24 beds at the site to supplement the 24 at its Lamson Street headquarters. The King Court facility would be open to guests from 6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day, he told the board, adding that Hundred Nights planned to provide transportation to and from the site, which is less than a mile from downtown Keene.
Zoning board members questioned Phippard and Cambiar about whether a homeless shelter is more consistent with the spirit of the low-density district than a commercial use and whether the presence of a shelter would negatively affect nearby residents.
The board also heard testimony from members of the public both in support of and against the proposal.
Attorney Jason Reimers of BCM Environmental & Land Law, on behalf of 19 residents in the King Court area, argued that a 24-bed shelter would be inconsistent with the local zoning regulations and that it would likely reduce nearby property values — describing the shuttle plan as insufficient to guarantee that guests would not be around the site in the daytime.
Zoning board Chairman Josh Gorman expressed admiration for Hundred Nights’ mission but said he did not consider a shelter at King Court similar, for zoning purposes, to single-family residences and that he was having “significant difficulty” thinking a shelter would not adversely affect local property values.
“Sometimes as a board member, you reach sort of a crossroads between what you think is right morally and what may be right from a zoning perspective,” he said.
Gorman ultimately voted with Arthur Gaudio and Joshua Greenwald to deny Hundred Nights a change of nonconforming use at the King Court property. Joseph Hoppock and Jane Taylor voted in favor.
If granted the change of nonconforming use, Cambiar said earlier Monday that Hundred Nights would have used a Community Development Block Grant worth nearly $500,000 to finance its lease and utility payments at 15 King Court and also to cover payments to staff at the facility. The county government was awarded those funds, which were administered by the NH Community Development Finance Authority, earlier this year on behalf of Hundred Nights, she said.
With a favorable decision by the zoning board, the organization also would have abandoned a pair of stop-gap measures it has taken to increase available bed space this winter.
Hundred Nights has pursued those options after two local churches where it previously offered a combined 24 beds in the colder months — United Church of Christ and St. James Episcopal Church — chose not to host Hundred Nights clients this year due to COVID-related concerns.
That left the organization with only the 24 beds at its Lamson Street shelter, which Cambiar said have been nearly, if not completely, occupied in recent weeks. She said demand for beds has seemed greater than normal lately.
However, Hundred Nights has temporarily expanded its capacity through a recent partnership with the Keene Inn. The West Street motel is currently providing a dozen rooms for 16 Hundred Nights clients at a discounted rate to the organization, according to Cambiar.
Those accommodations will be available until May 1, Keene City Manager Elizabeth Dragon told city councilors last month, though Cambiar said Monday she would prefer to rent 10 or 11 rooms to save costs. (Hundred Nights is paying $260 per week for a room, compared to the motel’s typical rate of around $299 per week, Dragon told city councilors.)
The nonprofit is also exploring the possibility of purchasing and refurbishing a coach bus for use as a temporary overnight shelter.
Cambiar said Hundred Nights has tentatively agreed to buy a 45-foot Van Hool bus from a Tennessee company and is seeking approval on a location where it can park the vehicle.
The bus is outfitted with four triple-bunk beds, a bathroom and additional seating, but she explained the organization would reconfigure its interior to create more distance and add flame-retardant partitions between the beds while leaving space to accommodate at least eight people.
The vendor, Busforsale.com, lists the coach at $47,500 on its website. To finance its purchase and renovation, Hundred Nights hopes to request federal funding via the Shelter Modification Program — administered by the independent state agency NH Housing — by the program’s Dec. 14 application deadline.
Before that, however, it must identify a location where the bus can be parked overnight, when the organization hopes it would serve as a temporary overflow shelter during the colder weather and would be supervised by a staff member. Cambiar said Hundred Nights is considering sites in Keene and outside the city, adding that any location must have access to electricity that can power the bus’ internal heating system.
The zoning board’s decision to deny a change of nonconforming use at 15 King Court amplifies the urgency to identify temporary bed space this winter.
To replace the lost beds at the churches, Hundred Nights had planned to provide 24 temporary units at 122–124 Water St. during its multi-year construction effort on a new shelter, according to Cambiar.
“We had hoped that the modular units … would get us through the next two winters,” she told The Sentinel Monday.
Cambiar explained that Hundred Nights would have purchased the temporary housing facilities using funds from the same Shelter Modification Program it hopes to tap for purchasing the bus.
That option is no longer feasible, given the Dec. 20 deadline to spend the federal aid and with Hundred Nights’ move to 122–124 Water St. in limbo due to legal proceedings over the zoning board’s decision to grant a land-use variance for the site.
Kevin Beal, Stephen B. Bragdon and John Pappas — all of whom own property near Water Street — filed a lawsuit in Cheshire County Superior Court on Nov. 25 claiming the ZBA’s decision was “unlawful and unreasonable.”
In the suit, they argue property owners near the Water Street site were not properly notified of the ZBA’s Sept. 22 hearing and that the proposal did not meet the board’s standards for granting a variance. The zoning board rejected those arguments in an initial appeal to the board by the group, on Nov. 2.
Calling the lawsuit an example of NIMBYism — an acronym for “not in my backyard” that describes opposition to proposed developments nearby — Cambiar said Monday she was disappointed the lawsuit cost Hundred Nights a chance at one-time emergency funding to subsidize its move.
“I feel like it’s taking up time that could be better used trying to solve the problem, as opposed to trying to keep us away,” she said. “… How else are you going to have over a million dollars flow into your community without asking anyone to donate? It would have been a win-win.”
Bragdon, who owns a condominium at 51 Railroad St. and represents the trio in their lawsuit, rejected claims of NIMBYism last week, arguing the suit challenges only procedural aspects of the zoning board’s decision to grant the variance — which he noted was the result of a 3–2 vote — rather than the presence of a shelter, in general.
“I think that there should be room for all sorts of residences in the community, including homeless shelters,” he said.
While its future location remains unclear, Hundred Nights has also used funding from the Shelter Modification Program to finance several infrastructure improvements, which Cambiar said has reduced the risk of COVID-19 transmission among clients and staff.
Among those upgrades, the organization installed a new air filtration system in its existing shelter on Lamson Street. The funds also supported electrical work at the former St. James Thrift Shop, located in the Jonathan Daniels building behind the church at 44 West St., which Hundred Nights began using as its resource center in mid-November.
Cambiar estimated the former St. James Thrift Shop is four times larger than the organization’s resource center on Lamson Street, which she said allows for safer interactions between clients and Hundred Nights staff.
“Our own space holds 10 people [maximum], and even that means they’re not spread out by six feet,” she said. “That’s nerve-wracking during this time.”
Caleb Symons can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1420, or csymons@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @CalebSymonsKS.
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