Rendering of the planned Lawrence Street Community Center, a day center and courtyard project adjacent to the Denver Rescue Mission. (Provided by Eidos Architects)
Denver city attorneys and the Denver Rescue Mission this week asked a Denver District Court to reconsider for an under-construction homeless day center.
They also asked Judge R. Michael Mullins Thursday to stay his decision while any appeals play out so that the Lawrence Street Community Center can open next month, as planned, next to the Rescue Mission’s downtown shelter.
If the judge declines to reconsider his ruling, the next step would be to take the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
On Sept. 3, Mullins sided with the Ballpark Neighborhood Association in the fight. He ruled that the city wrongly granted a permit to build the city-subsidized center last year. He wrote that the Rescue Mission intends to use it as an extension of the men’s shelter — which wouldn’t be allowed by current zoning — rather than as a true community center, which zoning allows.
But Rescue Mission officials insist it will be a community center, with an outdoor courtyard, a dining room, showers and restrooms — but no beds. The organization argues that the center will keep people off the streets during the day.
Ballpark neighborhood advocates, however, have questioned the expansion of homeless services in the neighborhood. Some argue the city’s substantial subsidy for the $9.5 million project .
The new motions argue that Mullins was wrong to rehash and reweigh the factors considered by the Board of Adjustment for Zoning Appeals before it issued the permit, instead of examining simply whether there was evidence to support its decision. The city and the Rescue Mission contend the permit decision was appropriate and say that keeping the center from opening would harm the homeless and the neighborhood.
