ATTACHMENT E
<br /> .� VoluntCe1 3 V1 to LICE tcaJ
<br /> MINNESOTA
<br /> Corporate Support Office
<br /> June 10, 2011
<br /> To: Janice Gundlach, City Planner,New Brighton, Minnesota
<br /> From: Jim Bettendorf, Director of Housing, Volunteers of America—Minnesota —
<br /> Subject: Conforming Special Use as similar use by Residential Reentry Center
<br /> Thank you for your recent request for our organizational perspective on how our projected use for the
<br /> property located at 1820 Old Highway 8 as a Residential Reentry Center is comparable to the other
<br /> special uses you stated are currently allowed under the zoning code.As we understand the situation from
<br /> your email,the allowed special uses are institutions such as: clinics,hospitals,sanitariums,convalescent
<br /> homes,rest homes,nursing homes,and orphanages.
<br /> All of the institutions which you listed provide care and support to their patients and residents. The same
<br /> will be true for our Residential Reentry Center. Its core purpose will be to look after the health,well-
<br /> being and development of the Center's residents. We are a hybrid of all of the uses you listed,providing
<br /> service components of each currently allowed special use. The services we provide in this program
<br /> include rehabilitative case management/counseling services with an emphasis on accessing services
<br /> needed for addiction, mental health, and permanent housing so that residents may become employed,
<br /> reunited with their family and accountable,productive,tax paying members of the community. Services
<br /> are provided in a stable, short-term living environment that provides the basic necessities of daily living
<br /> such as shelter,meals, health care, utilities,and personal sanitation facilities. Lastly, these rehabilitative
<br /> case management/counseling services and basic necessities of daily living are combined with constant
<br /> (24-hours, 365-days) staff supervision and monitoring to assure safety, security and program compliance.
<br /> Comparable care services are offered in hospitals,sanitariums,convalescent homes, rest homes,nursing
<br /> homes, and orphanages.
<br /> With regard to our planned use, we estimate its community impact will be less than the listed special uses
<br /> in terms of,traffic impact,parking needs, noise, use of city services, etc. The number of residents served
<br /> by our program will be consistent with,or less than,the other residential care allowed uses. Our residents
<br /> typically do not have regular visitors and are unlikely to have personal transportation needs that would
<br /> require high levels of parking. The vehicle traffic generated from our use is expected to be minimal and
<br /> would consist primarily of our staff during shift changes. We estimate our impact on traffic and parking
<br /> within the adjoining neighborhood will be much lower than that of clinics, hospitals, and
<br /> nursing/rest/convalescent homes. We are minimal users of city services since our on-site staff provides
<br /> supervision, monitoring and security of residents and works with Federal agencies if law enforcement
<br /> services are needed. The need for emergency medical services is highly uncommon for our program and
<br /> is estimated to be less than required for health care uses such as nursing and convalescent homes,clinics
<br /> and the other special uses geared toward an older population.
<br /> I am including a letter of support for our Reentry programs from our current neighbors on the Longfellow
<br /> Community Council where our Minneapolis Reentry Center is located. This recommendation
<br /> demonstrates that we are a positive,conforming neighborhood use in the communities we currently serve.
<br /> We genuinely appreciate your review of our proposed use and your request for our organizational
<br /> perspective.There is much more information we could provide to you regarding our service programs
<br /> please let us know if we can assist in any further way.
<br /> 7625 Metro Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55439 I ph.952.945.4000 I fx.952.945.4103
<br /> Making a Difference.Changing Lives."
<br /> Serving Minnesota since 1896. I www.voamn.org
<br />
|