Offender Transitional Housing in Rochester
Last June I came home from vacation to find a notice in my mailbox, alerting me to the fact that a house on my street had been designated for offender transitional housing, meaning that it would provide short-term housing to offenders serving their criminal sentences on parole, or supervised or conditional release. The news was not taken well by me, or my neighbors, as we were informed that we had no right to know the specifics behind the occupants that were to be housed there, i.e, what were the crimes that landed them in to the Government's "care", prior to them becoming eligible to live on our street. At a quickly organized neighborhood meeting, each of my neighbors voiced their concerns, whether it be for their own physical safety, or that of a child or grandchild. We immediately rallied with the intention of reversing the decision to place the house in our neighborhood...which we did, in rather short order actually.
As a result of our efforts, the City Council placed a one year moratorium (due to expire towards the end of this Summer) on the placement of any such houses within the City limits, and quickly assigned the task of deciding how to deal with this issue (as a zoning issue) to a study group, which meets every other week. I, thankfully, am in this group and have been able to voice my opinion as a citizen, which I feel is incredibly important. I don't assume for a minute to have been able to contribute anything more than what I think is common sense as my contribution to the group, but I can definitely say that I've received an education in regards to this issue, and have since revised my thinking on the matter....somewhat.
The group has drafted preliminary ordinance amendments that will be on the agenda for the City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on 4/25/07. It doesn't prohibit the placement of transitional houses in the City of Rochester, but does limit their proximity to one another, and sets a minimum distance requirement from schools, child care facilities, and licensed in-home daycares. As a citizen of a neighborhood where such a house could be placed, I find the proposed ordinances less than ideal, but as a member of the transitional housing study group, I feel that we're on the right road to protecting the community, while providing a solution for a very real need.
More to come...this should be interesting, to say the least.