Chattanooga City Council -- May 13, 2008

M.L. King community leaders, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga officials and Salvation Army representatives are planning to meet later this week to discuss details of a Salvation Army plan to expand its facilities.

The meeting comes after a Chattanooga City Council decision Tuesday to delay a vote on a zoning change that would allow the Salvation Army to put a new building next to its current location at 800 McCallie Ave. The new building would face Eighth Street.

“We’re concerned about the quality and the size of the project at this particular site,” said Richard Brown, UTC’s vice chancellor for finance and operations.

The Salvation Army is planning to construct the new barracks-style building to house federal prisoners it takes in as part of a work-release program, said Nelson Long, chairman of the charitable organization’s advisory board. That way, they could use an existing building for additional apartment housing for women and children, he said.

Kimberly George, spokeswoman for the Salvation Army, said the apartment housing, meant to transition families into jobs and homes, is not related to the temporary transient housing that the organization may offer if Union Gospel Mission cannot find a new location.

Union Gospel Mission must move from its current location on East Main Street by June 1.

The Salvation Army can construct the new building without the zoning change, Mr. Long said, but would prefer to make the building better fit the neighborhood. The change would allow them to build right next to the sidewalk while current zoning requires a 25-foot buffer, he said.

In a letter dated Monday to Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, Roger Thompson, a criminal justice professor at UTC, wrote he could “not raise my voice enough in protest” to the Salvation Army’s proposed expansion.

Dr. Thompson, also chairman of the M.L. King Weed Committee, a subgroup of the Weed and Seed program that is trying to reduce crime and improve the neighborhood, said the expansion would be counterproductive to the area’s revitalization.

“The M.L. King community has taken great strides toward resiliency and active participation in governance, but doubling the size of a prison population in the area can only negate positive gains,” he wrote.

Mr. Long said the Salvation Army is “not doubling anything” and that putting the prisoners in a barracks-style building gives indigent families a nicer place to live.

“All we’re doing is taking the (prisoners) who are already there and moving them to a building that’s less nice,” he said.

Maj. Jim Lawrence, area commander for the Salvation Army, said some prisoners now must sleep on cots due to a lack of beds. The expansion would provide beds for them, he said.

In a Tuesday memo to City Council members, Mr. Littlefield responded to the Dr. Thompson’s letter. The mayor wrote that he shared some of Dr. Thompson’s concerns, though he strongly supports the Salvation Army.

“The prisoner re-entry program operated by the Salvation Army is an important part of our community’s efforts to prevent homelessness, but it must be considered in the context of its immediate surroundings,” he wrote.

The mayor suggested placing cameras and an eight-foot fence by the Salvation Army building to ensure greater safety.