A plan for Tompkins County and the city of Ithaca to build a joint homelessness service center and Code Blue shelter at the former Burger King on Elmira Road fell apart just weeks after it was first announced in early August. While the county is set to open a Code Blue shelter on 227 Cherry St. next month, the Elmira Road site is planned to be demolished on Saturday due to unsafe living conditions.
According to Dan Klein, chair of the Tompkins County legislature, the idea of a joint homelessness facility was first discussed by the two bodies in the spring of this year. This facility, whose operations were outlined by Ithaca’s Advisory Committee on Encampment Response Policy, organized to address unsheltered homelessness, would act as a “navigation hub” by day, providing bathrooms, showers and access to relevant services to unhoused Ithacans.
By night, the site would be a Code Blue shelter, providing shelter for unhoused residents whenever the temperature drops to 32 degrees or below from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily.
The city approved a sub-lease of the site in early August. But once the county was able to inspect the building and evaluate renovations, Klein said the expected costs rose. He said that while the building itself was assessed at $200,000, adding heating, plumbing and other necessary amenities would cost an additional $750,000. Additionally, during times of maximum occupancy, residents would have to sleep on bunk beds due to the small size of the site.
According to Klein, considering that the county only planned to rent the site, spending that much in taxpayer money for a facility that would likely not be ready until next year “didn’t make sense for us anymore.”
“As we got further into this project, we started discovering more and more problems with the building itself,” Klein said. “And based on the extent of the problems and when we could get somebody to work on these issues, we didn't believe that we could get the building ready before January. That's just too far into this season.”
Klein said the city code enforcement officer later deemed the location “unfit for human occupancy" in a Sept. 12 violation notice. Duanne Miller, executive facilities manager at Maguire Cars, which owns the plot, said the company applied for a demolition permit. The permit has not been granted by the city yet, however, and the company plans to develop the property in the future.
In a city statement, Mayor Robert Cantelmo expressed disappointment with the county’s decision to delay the partnership.
“Irrespective of the logistical considerations at hand, this decision represents a walking back of the commitment [to not make a decision about the temporary shelter’s location without community input],” Cantelmo said. “As we always have, the City of Ithaca will contribute when called upon by the County and our partner agencies. But we also expect those partners to make good faith efforts to conduct their necessary due diligence and work together toward common solutions.”
Dominick Recckio, deputy city manager and chair of the advisory committee, said the Elmira Road location was integral to the navigation hub’s operations. The committee deemed the site the only viable option for setting up permanent bathroom and shower facilities near Southwest Park, a 28-acre parcel of city land where the city currently allows encampments.
A report from the committee adopted by the Common Council in May said improvements to the land may require the city to “obtain a permit to operate a campground per State regulations,” which would include on-site water supply and sewage system.
The Cherry Street location, however, is too far from Southwest Park to be in compliance with campground regulations, according to Recckio. Additionally, he said traveling from the encampment area to the future Code Blue shelter would involve traversing “a densely wooded area railroad tracks.”
“From my perspective, [the Cherry Street location] doesn't fit the city's needs of what an operating navigation hub under our context would need to be,” Recckio said. “Knowing that it's not at the desired location, I think [operating a navigation hub there would be] less advantageous for us to be a part of.”
The county is focusing on renovating the Cherry Street location, the current home to Found in Ithaca, to be this winter’s Code Blue shelter. Found in Ithaca will reopen in the former Morse Chain building as part of Southworks, a new commercial and residential neighborhood in town. Klein said the estimated costs of renovation are $100,000 and will take around two weeks to complete.
A non-profit organization is likely going to run the shelter and is proposing a daytime facility to be run on the site, according to Klein. Since this would mean no additional costs by the city to operate their navigation hub on Cherry Street, the county is inviting Ithaca to open their hub at the location.
“What the Cherry Street location doesn't do for [the city] is it doesn't provide the location for the bathrooms for the campground that they're looking for,” Klein said. “[But the city also wanted] to provide services, and so we are inviting them into our space.”
Shubha Gautam is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at sgautam@cornellsun.com.
