[Hpn] Mega-Shelter Law-suit

[HOBOMATT@aol.com]

The following was in today's daily paper. 
Matt Parkhouse, RN
Colorado Springs, CO

City Attorney's Office defends city's homeless complex action

By Ed Sealover/The Gazette  01-13-01

A Colorado Springs assistant city attorney said Tuesday the City Council had 
every right to designate a controversial homeless center as a public facility 
to meet zoning ordinances.

Assistant City Attorney Steve Hook responded to a lawsuit filed in 
mid-December by five residents of the Mill Street neighborhood to stop 
construction of the Montgomery Community Center, a homeless shelter proposed 
by the El Pomar Foundation and the Red Cross.

The city, the Red Cross and a consultant for the center were named as 
defendants.

The lawsuit called the council's decision to allow the structure in a public 
facility zoning area "arbitrary and capricious" and said the council "abused 
its discretion." 

The plaintiffs argue the Montgomery Center is not a public facility. 

But Hook said Tuesday the council had adequate information to make its 
decision.

"We're saying . . . the council did not abuse its discretion," he said.

Judge Kirk Samelson is expected to issue an order in the next few days 
requiring the city to turn over all records from the meeting at which the 
council made its decision. 

Then both sides will submit a series of briefs backing their cases. Samelson 
will make a decision from these briefs rather than in a trial.

The judge could rule in as few as two months, Hook said.>>