In delivering his opening remarks to the Fredericksburg Planning Commission on Wednesday night, attorney Charlie Payne acknowledged some of the predictable opposition to Jeremiah Community, a planned supportive housing development.
“Not everybody supports a project of this nature,” Payne said. “Some people don’t even want to live near a project of this nature.”
The planning commission heard from several individuals belonging to that category Wednesday during a continuation of the public hearing opened in July.
Gloria Taharant, who’s been a tenant in the Bragg Hill neighborhood for 20-plus years, said the development would threaten to erase years of hard-earned progress combatting crime in the area.
“Now, we have a decent place to live, and you want to dump 180 men in this neighborhood,” Taharant said, referring to the approximate number of small-home units planned for the development. “Many of our people will not support this project, and we do not welcome that presence.”
Victor Arvinay, who prefaced his comments by touting his efforts to help the homeless “three or four times” a week, asked commissioners a simple question: “Would you live across the street from that community, like my property is?”
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Bragg Hill residents received a letter from Central Park Townhomes Homeowners’ Association President Bryan Stelmok, encouraging them to speak out against the project.
The letter, which was obtained by the Free Press, featured as its masthead a large red circle — known as a general prohibition line — crossing out the words “Jeremiah Community.”
It bolds phrases such as “mental health issues, drugs/alcohol and sex offenders,” and falsely states that the potential residents “will be 180+ homeless men, not women, children or families.”
According to Micah Ecumenical Ministries executive director Meghann Cotter, the gender composition of the population currently receiving the organization’s services (and therefore eligible for housing at Jeremiah) is roughly 60 percent men and 40 percent women.
Micah Ministries Board Chair and former Mary Washington Healthcare CEO Fred Rankin offered background on the evolution of services provided by Fredericksburg’s downtown churches and framed Jeremiah as the symbiotic confluence of care and community.
“Our homeless neighbors want what we all want,” Rankin said. “They want a social network and a place where they can thrive and live safely.”
As the branch manager of the downtown Fredericksburg branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Craig Graziano interacts daily with the city’s unhoused population.
Graziano, who supports the project, said he and all library system employees receive mental-health training from the Rappahannock Area Services Board as well as Ryan Dowd’s “The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness.”
“Most of these individuals do not cause any issues and use the library for its intended purpose,” Graziano said. “There’s also a minority of individuals experiencing homelessness who do cause issues at the library and elsewhere in town…
“Though the library welcomes all, it is not and should not be a day shelter for those experiencing homelessness. In addition, the cost to the city and wear and tear on the building are not insignificant.”
A primary technical concern — shared by all stakeholders — is the state of Roffman Road, which will serve as a primary access point for phase two of the development, which includes apartments and a medical building.
“We’ve been fighting over this road every time any project gets put back here,” Stelmok said.
To date, city staff has recommended the following improvements to Roffman Road as proffers from the applicants: 22-foot paved width, street lighting, milling/resurfacing and filling gaps in the sidewalk.
Payne said he’s “very confident” that the applicants can address comments and concerns from city staff prior to the body’s Sept. 25 meeting, when commissioners will likely vote on a recommendation to city council.
“I just think the characterization of this being rushed is just not accurate,” Planning Commissioner David Durham said at the conclusion of a second three-plus hour meeting devoted almost entirely to the issue. “We’re taking a lot of time to consider this.”
Attorney Charlie Payne is an attorney for Hirschler Fleischer, a major donor to the Free Press. Meghann Cotter is a member of the Free Press journalism advisory committee.
