By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 18, 2006

An organization seeking to build a homeless shelter in Northwest Washington is planning to substantially reduce the number of beds at the proposed facility to try to assuage neighbors opposed to the project.

David Treadwell, director of Central Union Mission, would not specify the size of the decrease, but he said the number of beds could fall from 170 to as low as 100.

"We have listened to the community," Treadwell said.

But community leaders say the reduction is not nearly enough to end their opposition to the project, slated for the 3500 block of Georgia Avenue on a parcel straddling Petworth and Columbia Heights.

Cliff Valenti, who lives a couple of blocks from the site, said a 100-bed shelter would add to problems residents face along Georgia Avenue, including loitering, panhandling and public urination.

"I'm opposed to something that is going to bring down the area," Valenti said. He added that he would prefer a smaller shelter, one that is about 40 beds. "When they're smaller, they're better managed."

Treadwell wants Central Union to move to Georgia Avenue because its current headquarters, at 14th and R streets NW, is antiquated.

Treadwell's remarks about reducing the number of proposed beds came after the District began considering changes last week to the zoning regulations along a section of lower Georgia Avenue.

Planning officials said the review of the zoning regulations began two years ago, long before Central Union bought the land.

When Central Union finalized the purchase this month, mission officials believed that under the zoning regulations they could build the shelter without seeking any variances.

But last week, the D.C. Zoning Commission began reviewing regulations that would require developers of a project larger than 12,000 square feet to face public hearings and obtain a special permit.

Central Union's proposed shelter would be 60,000 square feet.

D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) said the change in zoning would give the neighborhood's residents the chance to influence Central Union's project.

"What this guarantees is community engagement," he said. "We didn't have any. I was told by the mission that they are coming as a matter of right. Get accustomed to it. Now it's a night-and-day difference, and it's beginning to sink in to our friends at Central Union."

Graham predicted that a review of the proposed zoning regulations, as well as possible appeals, could delay the project months, if not years.

Graham characterized Treadwell's plan to reduce the number of beds as "movement," but he added: "It's not enough." The council member said the mission should remain at its current headquarters, a sentiment echoed by a homeless advocate.

"Given the fact that it's difficult to move, why take that on?" said Mary Ann Luby, outreach coordinator at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, adding that she was not speaking for her organization. "These battles are not won and lost quickly."

But Treadwell said that the mission cannot remain at its Logan Circle address because it has entered into an agreement to sell the property to a developer.

"It's out of the question," he said. "We have a contract."

As for reducing the number of beds to 40, Treadwell said that number would not meet the community's needs.

"I don't see any way we can go below 100 beds," he said, adding that "I don't like to be the one who says never. Things happen; things change. We're in the business of trying to help the city."