ATHENS, Ohio — Athens City Council unanimously approved The Gathering Places’ Conestoga Huts pilot project Monday during what was, once again, a packed council chamber concerning the topic.
Ordinance 112-25 allows use of the huts in an R-3, multi-family residential zone. The temporary shelters will be located in the Gathering Place’s parking lot, at 1, 5 and 7 N. Congress St.
Council member Alan Swank, 4th Ward, was absent from Monday’s meeting.
Monday’s lengthy meeting and agenda took more than three hours, with about half of that time focused on the huts.
More than a dozen of the 20 speakers were in favor of allowing the huts. The project’s detractors objected to the Uptown location and “spot zoning” and raised safety concerns.
The proposal was approved by the Athens Planning Commission over the summer. Since then, it has undergone review by council committee with opportunities for public comment, a packed public hearing Oct. 20, and readings at two prior council meetings with public comments.
“I do not look at this as taking sides,” said Ginger Schamelenberg, executive director of The Gathering Place. “I look at this as the community learning to work with each other to address a very real housing crisis, which happens to affect a large population whom I serve.”
Schmalenberg said after the meeting that the first occupant of one of the Conestoga Huts would be housed this weekend, with two others to be housed soon. The initial occupants will be women who have been carefully vetted, she said.
The huts, located behind a screened fence, are subject to annual approval from the service-safety director. Occupants will stay in the huts only at night.
Schmalenberg said she would like to work with others who suggested alternate sites and possibly expand such projects in the future.
“We at The Gathering Place are in the business of giving hope,” she said. She added those operating the facility have worked on trust-building within Athens for nearly 50 years.
“That’s why I know this can be successful,” Schmalenberg said.
Those lending their support during Monday’s third and final reading included Briar Poore, an Athens Middle School student.
“As a middle schooler, I would like to say that I walk past The Gathering Place and where the huts would be, often after school,” Poore said. “And I don’t feel that them being there will change much around them, nor bring a threat to my safety.”
Megan Benjamin, an Ohio University student interning at The Gathering Place, said Conestoga Hut residents will be seeking to improve their lives through continued treatment and job opportunities — which will be made much easier through temporary shelter.
Benjamin noted that apartment dwellers or home owners are rarely questioned when they take up residence, despite the dangers they might present. If the worst is assumed about homeless persons seeking shelter, then the homeless crisis will never improve, she said.
“If you still feel fear, I urge you to examine whether it comes from concrete, verifiable facts about The Gathering Place and Conestoga Huts, or from biases and stigmas toward unhoused people,” Benjamin said.
Schmalenberg said that she can understand skepticism from anyone who had experienced crime associated with a homeless shelter, but said that The Gathering Place has the experience to make the project succeed.
Local builder Brent Hayes said that he is “all for” helping unhoused persons, if they are from Athens County, but not all unhoused people who are in Athens are from the area. Hayes said that he appreciates countywide efforts to alleviate homelessness.
Athens resident Andy Vogt said he met with a local architect and state building code professional who alleged that the Conestoga Huts may violate state laws around fire safety, utilities and public accommodation.
Law Director Lisa Eliason said the distance required between structures for fire safety is 30 feet, not 60 feet. She also added that the state’s 2024 building code substantially expanded its allowances for primitive and semi-primitive lodging structures.
The amount of power the huts would need for lighting and charging electronic devices is minimal, Eliason said, and would not be considered places of public accommodation.
City officials, before turning the meeting over for public comments and later, the 6-0 vote to approve the Conestoga Huts, offered their views.
Council member Jessica Thomas, At-Large, who made the motion to approve the ordinance, noted that the project will be closely monitored by the city, the service-safety director, and by The Gathering Place. She noted that the project started out as a plan in fall 2023 and has progressed carefully through a process involving multiple layers of input and approval.
Council member Solveig Spjeldnes, 1st Ward, said the Conestoga Huts will serve occupants and the community, with an opportunity to see what can be done to serve a distinct population in need of housing. Spjeldnes said she spoke with the Athens County Sheriff, who had no pressing concerns.
Councilor Michael Wood, 3rd Ward, thanked the community for the substantial public comments that have helped frame the narrative about the Conestoga Huts and what they are intended to bring into the community to help those with immediate housing needs.
“To me, the opposite of love is not hate, it’s apathy,” Wood said.
Mayor Steve Patterson, addressing “spot zoning” concerns, said spot zoning applies to its largest extent when it involves giving a permitted use to one business, or residence, that gives it an advantage over other properties zoned the same way. But in this case, Conestoga Huts do not offer economic advantages, he said.
Patterson also said even small impacts to help alleviate housing insecurity will become more important in the near future, as social safety net programs receive cutbacks at the federal and state levels. The Conestoga Huts are a small but significant way of helping three people at a time to “get back on their feet again,” he said.
A related and potential forthcoming ordinance, which would allow temporary housing shelters in R-3 and B-3 (general business) zones, was not on Monday’s agenda.
The topic is set for discussion at Athens City Council’s next regular meeting Dec. 1, Council President Sam Crowl said. It will likely be a regular meeting combined with at least one committee meeting.
West Side rezoning approved
Before the meeting, the council held a public hearing for the recommendation from the Athens Planning Commission to rezone portions of North Lancaster and Second streets, Columbia Avenue and Columbus Road, from zones R-1 and B-2D, downtown business, to R-2, one family/two family/duplex, B-1, neighborhood business, and B-2, business district.
The lone audience member who spoke at the public hearing was Rob Delach, who chairs the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. He said the rezoning will encourage business development on the West side by allowing patrons to walk from shop to shop.
One such area that has been discussed is the old fire station headquarters on Columbus Road, zoned for business development, as well as the abandoned Dairy Queen at 70 Columbus Road.
City Service-Safety Director Andy Stone said the new zoning will allow more duplex housing in the area, while opening portions of North Lancaster Street, Columbus Road and other areas may expand businesses.
Council passed the Ordinance 113-25 on third reading during the regular meeting.
Proposed income tax increase advances towards voters
The council heard first reading of Ordinance 137-25, and related Resolution R-06-25, which will place a proposed .2% earned income tax increase before city voters May 5, 2026. The issue would raise the income tax from 1.95% to 2.15% and generate an additional $1.8 million toward the city’s $21 million general fund.
Patterson said the city is facing rising costs for employees’ medical coverage and salaries and negotiations with four unions to negotiate, including police and fire.
This past May, city voters rejected a proposed 0.3% earned income tax increase by a 14% margin. That proposal sought an increase from 1.95% to 2.25%, and would have generated an additional $2.6 million annually for the general fund.
Treasurer Josh Thomas said voters had told the city that 0.3% was too big of an increase, so the city is setting its sights on a lower amount.
Patterson and Thomas both emphasized that even if passed, the city would not benefit from most of the increased revenue until a year after passage.
Third ordinance readings
By unanimous vote, the council adopted two ordinances that will facilitate the sale of two single-family homes to the Athens Metropolitan Housing Authority.
The two homes had been purchased by the city and AMHA has managed the properties through a lease, providing housing to disabled adults who receive housing vouchers.
Ordinance 115-25 involves the sale of the home at 25 Central Avenue for an appraised value of $154,000. The appraisal was necessary because the city had acquired the home using Community Development Block Grant funds. The sale proceeds will be placed in the city’s CDBG fund, which can be used for projects associated with the Athens Community Improvement Corporation.
Another home, at 458 Richland Avenue, had been acquired by the city using its general fund. Through Ordinance 116-25, the Richland Avenue home will be sold to AMHA following the Athens County Auditor’s assessed valuation of $144,160.
Second ordinance readings:
- Ordinance 101-25, passed under rules suspension and adopted unanimously, will appropriate $420,000 from the water fund to advertise for bids and construct a new, expanded water line along Jacobs Street from Graham Drive to Stonybrook Drive to serve a new Athens County Children Services building at 18 Stonybrook Drive. The city is in the process of annexing the property.
- Ordinance 114-25, also adopted following rules suspension, will appropriate a total of $70,000 toward HVAC repairs, maintenance and upgrades at the Athens Community Center. Half of the amount will come from the Community Center Operations Fund, with the other half from the APR Income Tax Fund 273.
- Ordinance 121-05 will repeal and adjust staffing levels by eliminating an unfilled intensive probation coordinator position in the court system, and replace it with two three-quarter time positions in the code office: one working in facilities enforcement and the other a development specialist.
First readings:
- Council suspended the rules to adopt Ordinance 128-05, which amends a prior ordinance to authorize additional improvements at the city parking garage. The cost of those improvements will increase the project cost from $500,000 to $575,000. Parking garage work needs to be repaired during Ohio University winter break, Transportation Committee Chair Spjeldnes said. Additional improvements include rooftop solar panels, electrical system for electric vehicle chargers, rooftop cameras, and an accessible garage entry. Spjeldnes said rooftop cameras are intended to help prevent those considering self-harm from the fifth and sixth stories.
- Ordinance 130-25 authorizes engineering and construction of the Athens Streetscape Beautification Project No. 383, with a cost of $7.7 million, of which $6.5 million is to be paid from the Appalachian Community Grant Program. The project is a major infrastructure initiative focused on burying overhead electric and telecommunications lines in the city’s Uptown area. Improved lighting and utility work, drainage and sidewalks, are also included. The city’s share, $1.2 million, is to come from the street rehabilitation fund.
Athens City Council’s next regular meeting will be 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, at Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also streamedonline. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.
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