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ATTACHMENT J V ULUIN 1 th. Ur A1VthKIUA-M1NNEMU 1 A SPECIAL USE APPEAL NARRATIVE RESIDENTIAL RE-ENTRY CENTER NEW BRIGHTON, MINNESOTA Volunteers of America-Minnesota(VOA-MN) sought to locate a residential Re-entry center at 1820 Old Highway 8 pursuant to a special use permit. This narrative provides background information regarding VOA-MN's appeal of a city staff conclusion that the proposed use does not qualify for consideration as a special use. VOA-MN was founded in 1896. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive nonprofit human service organizations in the state. It's more than 60 programs, 900 staff, and voluntary board of directors serve more than 26,500 individuals each year in a variety of service programs. One of these programs is a Residential Re-entry Center currently operating in Roseville, Minnesota. The facility in which the current program operates is owned by Ramsey County and the county has indicated its desire to sell the property for redevelopment, thereby not renewing the lease for our Residential Re-entry Center. The faculty has successfully operated at its Roseville location for the past twenty-five (25) years. In our planning to relocate the currently operating Residential Re-entry Center we have identified a suitable property located at 1820 Old Highway 8,New Brighton, Minnesota. A residential Re-entry center works under a contract with the United States Government and provides services to assist offenders as they return to the community and strive to become productive members of society. This service is a crucial component in a successful, life-changing reintroduction of people who have been previously incarcerated to the community. Our Roseville program currently serves anywhere from 50—76 men and women in a highly structured and supportive transitional housing environment. This program is staffed 24 hours/day and 365 days/year, with professional staff that provide an array of services including case management, education, counseling, health coordination, housing, security, safety and program compliance monitoring. As part of the acquisition process applied to be recognized as an allowable "Special Use" in the Mixed Use Zoning District under Section 6-540(2)(E) of the New Brighton Zoning Code. By letter dated June 16, 2011, VOA-MN was notified that City staff had concluded that the proposed use was not similar to other institutions which are allowable as special uses; namely, clinics, hospitals, sanitariums, convalescent homes, rest homes, nursing homes, and orphanages or similar uses. All of the institutions listed in Section 6-540(2)(E)provide care and support to their patients and residents. The same will be true for our Residential Re-entry Center. Its core purpose will be to look after the health, well-being and development of the Center's residents. We are a hybrid of all of the uses listed,providing service components of each currently allowed special use. The services we provide in this program include rehabilitative case management/counseling services with an emphasis on accessing services needed for addiction, mental health, and permanent housing so that residents may become employed, reunited with their family and accountable, productive, tax paying members of the community. Services are provided in a stable, short-term living environment that provides the basic necessities of daily living such as shelter, meals,