Conway Planning Commission recommends Soul Food permit
CONWAY — Rick Harvey and the supporters of Soul Food Cafe Mission cleared a hurdle — the Conway Planning Commission — and have one more to go to operate in their new location.
The mission, which has operated at different churches for 16 years, is nearing completion of a 14,400-square-foot metal building on 6 acres at 1717, 1715 and 1727 S. Donaghey Ave. The building is being used as a warehouse.
The commission, after hearing pros and cons for Soul Food Cafe Mission to conduct religious activities in its new building, voted 7-2 Monday to recommend a conditional-use permit with no conditions.
One day a week, the mission provides a free hot meal and gives out food boxes, haircuts, clothing, toiletry items, and offers two church services. The mission is operating at Conway First Church of the Nazarene until the new building is ready.
Harvey said the Planning
Commission’s vote shows his message is being heard.
“I think it’s wonderful; they’re finally recognizing that Soul Food Cafe Mission is what it is, a church — it’s always been a church — and they afforded us the same religious freedoms as all the other churches.
“We’re kind of radically different than other churches in that we highly concentrate on the needs of those who are needy,” he said. “I’m not downing other churches; they don’t incorporate it in everything they do.”
The request will go before the Conway City Council at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Russell L. “Jack” Roberts District Court Building in downtown Conway.
The ministry originally asked for its property to be rezoned to allow the mission to provide temporary emergency shelter, but intense opposition caused the mission to withdraw the rezoning request. A previous Planning Commission meeting failed to get enough votes, and the City Council delayed a vote on the issue.
Attorneys with the American Center for Law and Justice accompanied Harvey to Monday night’s Planning Commission meeting but did not speak. Harvey said the American Center for Law and Justice is representing the mission for free.
Several opponents who spoke Monday night reiterated that they are not against Soul Food Cafe Mission’s work, and some praised it.
However, they cited concern
about the safety of their children, including the mission’s proximity to a day care and Ellen Smith Elementary School, lowered property values, potential for increased crime, and more foot traffic and vehicle traffic through the neighborhoods, as well as the possibility of homeless people living in tents on nearby wooded property.
Harvey addressed opponents’ objections one by one until his 10 minutes to speak ran out.
“This fear factor going on here is just outrageous,” he told commissioners.
Harvey asked the Planning Commission to prayerfully consider the issue.
“We mean no harm,” he said. “We’ve been helping this city for 16 years.” He turned to the audience and said, “I don’t know how you feel about us, but if your house burns down tonight, I’ll be there for you.”
David Giorgi, president of the Spring Valley Property Owners Association, said he represents 321 homes. Of those, he said 50 to 60 homeowners oppose the mission operating in the Donaghey Avenue location. Soul Food Cafe Mission’s property is south of the Spring Valley subdivision.
The overnight shelter the mission originally proposed was a “major, major issue,” Giorgi said Tuesday morning. “That was a major contention.”
Asked if the residents are less concerned about the mission now that it isn’t seeking a designation for overnight stays, Giorgi said, “probably not,” but he declined to elaborate. He said he has “mixed emotions” about the mission.
Lesley Hillemeyer, who
lives adjacent to the Soul Food Cafe Mission building, said supporters have the wrong idea about those who oppose it.
“It’s very unfortunate that we as residents have been painted with a brush that says we are unsympathetic, or that we do not understand the struggles of other people,” she said.
Hillemeyer said that soon after she moved in, her children saw a man mowing the Soul Food Cafe Mission property wearing just a Speedo and flip-flops. She also said cardboard piles up at the back of the building.
She asked for conditions on the permit that would make her feel more comfortable as a homeowner, including a minimum 8-foot fence, set times for the mission to operate and a specified clause that no one be able to stay in the facility overnight.
Harvey said Wednesday that a land surveyor came Tuesday to the property.
“We want to put a fence up, an 8-foot wooden fence, but we want to make sure it’s on our property,” Harvey said.
Several supporters told commissioners how Soul Food Cafe Mission had helped them during tough times, including two women who went through Hurricane Katrina and moved to Conway.
Anne Tucker, chairwoman of the commission, told supporters they didn’t have to repeat the good work that the mission does. “If you’re coming to speak on that, we’re sold on that,” Tucker said. “We understand it’s a needed thing, but we have to deal strictly with the land use.”
She said commissioners
likely would put conditions on the conditional-use permit for Soul Food Cafe Mission, “to be good stewards.”
Kevin Watson, a developer who has been approved to build another neighborhood on property he owns surrounding the mission, said he supports Soul Food Cafe Mission’s work.
“It’s amazing what they do,” he said.
However, he urged commissioners to put conditions on the request if they voted to recommend it, saying “it’s only fair” to current and future neighbors.
Jackson Terrell, who lives in the Spring Valley subdivision, said the streets near Ellen Smith Elementary School are a “hub of activity” and already dangerous for children who walk, without the potential increased foot and vehicle traffic.
Before voting, commissioners read the ordinance defining religious activities.
“This is no different than a church,” Commissioner Bryan Quinn said. “The neighborhood we just approved is going to have way more traffic. So, 50 to 60 people opposed; I get that. It’s a weird situation, and that’s why I voted against the homeless shelter, but this to me is a church, and I have no problem with what they’re doing and what they want to do.”
He also told Hillemeyer that she knew the mission was there when she bought her house a year ago, and he suggested that she build a fence.
Quinn made the motion to approve the permit with no conditions, and Brooks Freeman seconded the motion.
When Tucker suggested limiting days the mission
could give out food, Quinn balked.
“If New Life Church wants to give away food on a Thursday because somebody needs some food, we would never limit them; we would never. There’s no reason to do that here,” Quinn said.
Vice chairman Jerry Rye said a church previously operated on property now owned by Soul Food, so he thought a precedent had been set.
“I don’t see how we can deny this, as well,” he said.
The conditional-use request was approved 7-2, by a show of hands, with no conditions to recommend to the City Council.
Arthur Ingram and Justin Brown did not vote in favor of the request.
“Honestly, I don’t know why [the conditional-use request] necessarily came before us,” Quinn said Wednesday. “I understand when they were applying for a homeless shelter, … but it seems to me they are grandfathered in as a church there.”
At the end of the meeting, Tucker reminded opponents to the conditional-use request that “this still has to go through the City Council, so rally your troops.”