My name is Ebony Lofton and I am the President of South Cove HOA. We are located right next to Grace Church.
I read your article about the planned homeless shelter and hope you’d be willing to take a statement on our views. All of the residents I’ve talked to are not in support of this plan and we want to do all we can to share our views and to hopefully stop approval of this re-zoning plan.
Personally I believe an additional homeless shelter in the county would be wonderful for the homeless and those in desperate need of social services, but not so close to residential areas. I also know that this would be a huge win for Grace Church as they have begun plans for a new location.
However, I don’t have to tell you the adverse effect it will likely have on our property values. There is also the concern of excessive loitering, a rise in crime with an already diminished Dumfries Police Department, and the overall safety threat to our children and residents with such high foot traffic in close proximity to our community.
We simply don’t have the law enforcement personnel in Dumfries to deal with an increased population of shelter patrons who may suffer from substance abuse or severe mental health issues. Furthermore, it can be assumed that this planned location will potentially serve ALL of Prince William County and some shelter patrons could be “transferred” here from other parts of the County. This an even greater concern to us.
Moreover, we are disappointed in the way this has been handled and want to make sure that the Town Council does a better job at communicating directly with its community stakeholders moving forward. South Cove HOA submitted a FOIA request and received a copy of the Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) application; it indicated plans for 100 beds, additional showers and improvements for a warm kitchen.
We plan to mention the upcoming Public Hearing in our next newsletter and are encouraging our members to attend on September 15th and to contact our local officials directly.
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