On Monday, a Juneau Assembly committee met to discuss six proposals submitted for a city property in the Mendenhall Valley.
Each proposal comes from an organization or individual looking to provide a service in the community.
The city previously leased the property to Juneau Youth Services for $1 a year, and may enter into a similar agreement with an applicant they feel meets an important need.
Juneau Lands and Resources Manager Greg Chaney said the Assembly Lands Committee plans to whittle the six proposals down to three to recommend to the full Assembly.
“Right now, they’re just trying to gather information and do it in an equitable manner,” Chaney said. “Which is really hard because these are each different organizations which are proposing different uses for the building, some of which are pretty straightforward, some of which are kind of complicated.”
The proposals include:
- an elder care assisted living facility operated by a private company based in Washington state;
- the Gehring Nursery School, which hopes to establish pre-K childcare in the facility;
- relocating Polaris House to expand mental health services;
- Prama Home Inc. proposes a combined homeless youth, pre-K and elder care program; and
- one resident proposes establishing dual housing for former prisoners reentering society and seasonal workers.
The proposal that’s triggered the most online community discussion comes from the Glory Hole, the downtown emergency shelter and soup kitchen. It submitted a proposal to move its shelter to the Hurlock Avenue property.
Basically, some area residents don’t want homeless people in their neighborhood.
Interim Director Kyle Hargrave said this would allow the shelter to lease their current facility at a commercial rate.
“The Glory Hole is constantly struggling to pay for itself through donations and fundraising and grants,” Hargrave said. “It takes a lot of work. I think the prospect of having a property that could generate income was the most attractive thing about this.”
Hargrave said it’s preliminary. The proposal is mainly to keep options open.
“The thing that’s the highest concern for the Glory Hole board or the director, Mariya, is going to be the neighborhood and the community response,” he said. “And also the input of our patrons and clientele as well.”
Juneau Youth Services used the building as an emergency shelter for youth for more than 50 years, but downsized to their existing facility on Montana Creek Road due to budget constraints.
Whoever moves in will be responsible for maintenance and operations costs, which average around $50,000 per year. The longer the facility sits empty, the more the city will have to bear those costs.
The applicants are scheduled to present proposals to the Lands Committee at noon Feb. 12. The committee plans to make its recommendation by its Feb. 26 meeting.
If things go smoothly, the Juneau Assembly would consider the proposals on April 2.
