From Fred Forbes

The City has released a nearly finished draft of the Operating Ordinance for Homeless Shelters. (You can read it by clicking here) I know that there will be some of you who may feel that there are some things missing from the Draft Proposed Ordinance, but on the whole it is very well done and reflects a lot of input from the public, as well as the Local Planning Agency (LPA).  The items in boxes mean the issue or requirement has not been resolved by LPA and city staff. There are not a lot of items that have boxes on them. This ordinance along with the propose rewrite of the Land Development Code (Zoning Regulations) pertaining to Social Services Agencies which include group homes, halfway houses, homeless shelters and juvenile correctional homes or facilities has not been released yet in a finished draft. When it is we will EBLAST it to you.

Please note, things which greatly protect our City's residents have been added to what city staff and LPA started with in August. I, as well as other members of LPA, concluded that excluding anyone from staying in a homeless shelter who has a serious criminal record would address one of the "root causes" of the vast majority of public concern which is the higher crime rate associated with homeless shelters. Excluding anyone with a serious criminal record from being able to stay at a 30 bed homeless shelter (the total number of beds that can be built in our City based on 1 bed/1500 population) would keep other homeless people with serious criminal records from coming to our City to sleep in the woods, etc. while a bed opens up in the homeless shelter. Please note that I have sent an email to the City Manager and the City Attorney recommending that we add to the exclusion list, shown on page three of the attachment; attempted murder, rape, attempted rape, attempted kidnapping, escape from prison or jail and attempted escape from prison or jail.

Remember, the LPA meeting on November 8^th at 8:30AM will not be dealing with these ordinances other than an update on them by city staff with some LPA input, as well as public input at the end of the meeting.

Please feel free to share this email with your friends who live in Bonita Springs due to the citywide public interest and concern over homeless shelters.

Fred Forbes, HRCA Board President & LPA Member

BSAFE Update...

We had a good turnout and two guest speakers for the BSAFE meeting on November 1, 2012 at the Cedar Creek cabana.

Fred Forbes of the Local Planning Agency (LPA) provided an update on the status of the proposed revisions of the Land Development Code (LDC) and the Homeless Shelter Operating Ordinance. He referred to a topographical map (Click Here - Large File) distributed at the last LPA meeting showing the four land parcels
in Bonita Springs currently zoned to allow for a homeless shelter; these parcels are outlined in yellow on the map below. The proposed revisions of the LDC would allow homeless shelters only by special exception and require a public hearing as well as a super majority vote by City Council.

The Homeless Shelter Operating Ordinance is currently being worked on by the Community Development Department in conjunction with an outside planner retained by the City. Fred said the key elements of the proposed ordinance will include the following restrictions; size limited to 20 - 30 beds, persons must hold US citizenship or have legal immigration status and have no major criminal convictions.

Banana Peel publisher Deborah Maclean, who grew up in Naples, gave the history of how a small, church-run soup kitchen in East Naples morphed into the current St. Matthews house. She sees the soup kitchen and homeless shelters as intertwined and leading to a downward spiral in the surrounding community. These same sentiments were echoed at a recent Palmira fundraiser by Sheriff Mike Scott, County Commission District 2 Candidate Cecil Pendergrass and County Tax Collector Candidate Larry Hart. All three have had long term careers in law enforcement and public safety.

Thank you to BSAFE members for your involvement and support. Without your efforts and your financial contributions a 260 bed homeless shelter could be under construction on Old 41!

Your continued involvement and support are critical, these issues are not resolved. Please attend the upcoming LPA meetings on November 8 and December 13 at 8:30 am in City Hall. It is helpful if you prepare your comments in writing, limit your comments to one or two issues and provide a copy of your comments to the Recording Secretary.

Upcoming LPA Meetings - IMPORTANT

Two important meetings are coming up for the LPA 
(Local Planning Agency) to be held at the City Hall.

November 8th 2012 - 8:30 AM

Meeting Agenda Here

The meeting will review some city ordinances, but more importantly it will have a status update on the drafting of the homeless shelter operational ordinance and LDC 4 Social Service changes.

There will be time for public comment.

If you would like to review the minutes of the last meeting, you can view them by clicking below.

LPA MEETING MINUTES FROM OCT 18, 2012 

If you would like to view the entire packet of the November 8th 2012 LPA meeting click below.

LPA FULL MEETING PACKET (LARGE 71 PAGE FILE)

A note from Fred Forbes - LPA Member...

LOCAL PLANNING AGENCY (LPA) meeting will be held on November 8th, 2012 starting at 8:30am at City Hall in City Council Meeting Room.  The attachments contain the Agenda and primary business to be discussed.  Please note the almost completed Operating Ordinance and the almost completed proposed revisions to the Land Development Code (LDC) primarily pertaining to the rewrite of regulations and definitions for Social Services Agencies will not be on the Agenda other than Item IV, a Status Report on the drafting of an almost finalized version of each ordinance (Homeless Shelter Operating Ordinance and the re-write of Social Services Agencies in the LDC and Ordinance). However, this does not preclude public comment, suggestions, criticism, etc. of these items which are not on the Agenda of this meeting. City staff and the special Land Use planner have not totally finished their revising of those two ordinances (Operating Ordinance for Homeless Shelters and the rewrite of LDC pertaining to Social Services Agencies).


December 13th 2012 - 8:30 AM


The LPA meeting scheduled for December 13th at 8:30am will deal with the Finished Draft of these two ordinances. The December 13th LPA Meeting will be a very important meeting to attend and to make public comments on about these two ordinances. We will post the Agenda and attachments containing the Finished Draft Ordinances about a week before that meeting so residents have adequate time to review and develop your comments.