The potential of establishing an extreme weather center for the unhoused of Sturgis was further explored at Wednesday evening’s Sturgis City Commission meeting. 

City staff has had discussions with Kristi Boughton of the St. Joe Community Co-Op and others about the potential for such a place in the basement of the Co-Op’s building at 307 W. Chicago Rd. The goal of the new effort is to provide an extreme weather center which can be operated overnight to house people during set conditions. The proposed location presents difficulties for use as an overnight housing shelter due to zoning, building, and fire codes. 

Boughton was present at Wednesday’s meeting and addressed commissioners, explaining the origin of the project. During the extreme weather event on December 23, 2022 Boughton knew that Keystone Place, a homeless shelter in Centreville, was at capacity and unable to take more individuals. With the temperatures below 10 degrees that night she decided to open the 4,000 square foot basement of the Co-op to offer assistance. “I had already thought about trying to help people in the past, so why couldn’t we open the door when their life and limb was in jeopardy?” Boughton said.

She stressed to commissioners the extreme weather center will not be designed to be a homeless shelter, saying she even removed the word “overnight” from the original title. According to city zoning and fire codes, the Co-Op is free to welcome people in as a place to stay warm, even during overnight hours, but it cannot currently be used to house people overnight. “That distinction of housing people and advertising for overnight sleeping was a critical one in this case,” Interim City Manager Andrew Kuk said. 

When Boughton learned she would no longer be permitted to allow people sleeping overnight in the center she adapted her original plan. She told commissioners the cots which had been purchased for the extreme weather center just weeks ago had now been removed and locked in a separate room. “If we do have an extreme weather event in the state in the next three weeks that we had to activate, we would be advertising and going out to tell people you can come into the Co-Op for warmth, you can stay here until the temperature rises above what our threshold would be, but you can’t sleep.” 

As far as policies and guidelines which will be put in place for the center, Boughton came prepared to address each one with commissioners. In order to keep individuals from congregating in the parking lot outside the Co-Op there will be a rule prohibiting leaving until the temperature rises. With the Co-Op located between a neighborhood and businesses, Boughton told the board she would not allow individuals to roam around outside unsupervised for any purpose. Additionally, she plans to make the center a controlled environment by locking away personal belongings, and not allowing individuals to have access to them during their stay. This will ensure no one has possession of weapons, drugs, cigarettes, or anything else barred from the center.

When commissioners expressed concerns over how Co-Op staff would ensure no one was sleeping during their stay, Boughton said, “If somebody comes in, we (will) try to keep them awake during the extreme weather event (in a number of ways). They can sit at a restaurant-style table and have coffee, we have TVs in several rooms, they can play foosball, they can play video games, we’ve got a ping-pong table, and a craft room with puzzles.”

Threshold for activation

Another discussion during Wednesday’s meeting centered around discerning a criteria or threshold for when to activate the extreme weather center. Boughton told commissioners the current threshold is set to -10 degrees ambient and -25 with windchill. “This is something we would like to address because life and limb is actually going to be affected by anything below freezing,” she said. While some extreme weather shelters are adjusting their guidelines and opening their doors at 32 degrees, Boughton said that isn’t an option for her, as she does not have the appropriate number of staff to be operational. Instead she would like to see the threshold set at zero, ambient temperature or windchill.

Fourth Precinct City Commissioner Robert Hile asked for clarification on what sort of improvements or changes the Co-Op would need to make in order to be compliant with zoning and fire codes. Kuk said an answer to this question will be part of the continuing development process and called on Community Development Director William Pritchard about possible next steps. “I’ll sit down with the fire department, we’ll go through fire code requirements and building code requirements, and try to figure out what obstacles they may have,” Pritchard said. 

While outlining a number of issues that cannot be changed due to the way the Co-Op building was designed, Pritchard also pointed out positives to the basement location. Among them were having two exits and a fire alarm system. “All we’re doing is looking for life safety, not only for the people in there, but in case of an emergency if the fire department, police department, or EMS has to get into that building.”

With spring inevitably on the way, Boughton said the center could potentially provide relief in the future with other weather events such as tornados, high wind storms, and extreme heat. She told commissioners it might be more difficult to activate such a center for events like tornados, simply because there isn’t as much prior-notice compared to very low or high temperatures. “We know at least three days in advance,” Boughton said in regards to preparation for low or high temperature activation, “We don’t know what the extreme emergency of a tornado warning would look like, but we want to be able to offer some place, a safe haven for individuals to go that need that shelter.”

In the audience Wednesday was a member of the planning commission for the extreme weather center, and advocate for the unhoused, Diana Wells-Wilson. Wells-Wilson attends St. John’s Episcopal Church and works with the Free Friday Friendship outreach program, which is open every Friday. The program offers showers to the homeless, and averages between five and nine people every week. In addition to the shower, those in need are also provided with towels and toiletries. Addressing the board directly, Wells-Wilson listed the major underlying causes for those experiencing homelessness in the community as being substance abuse, mental health, and lack of affordable housing. 

After hearing Boughton and Wells-Wilson’s statements, Mayor Jeff Mullins spoke about next steps in the process. “We’re here tonight to talk about the commission giving direction to city staff to draft an ordinance to go through the planning commission (regarding the discussion of setting a threshold for activation).” As far as a timeline for the project Mullins said he hoped they would have an ordinance prepared very soon to share publicly, if directed by the commission. Mullins then asked for a consensus vote from the commission to direct staff to move in that direction, and work on an ordinance for a potential extreme weather center. In an emotional statement to fellow commissioners, 4th Precinct Commissioner Frank Perez spoke to the urgency of organizing the center as quickly as possible. “I don’t want to wait a month or two months for a policy to come out — we have to do something quick.” 

A motion was made by Vice Mayor Aaron Miller, supported by Perez, and the motion carried. “It will take time and I believe that staff will work diligently,” Mullins said, “and I believe that in the end we will have something created where we’ll have that in our community, or a safe place for these folks to go during those times.”

Boughton told Watershed Voice the decision made Wednesday likely means the center will not open immediately. “We’ve got procedures we need to have in place so we can keep our volunteers abreast of how we are going to help individuals that come in and utilize our facility, and make sure we do have policies and procedures in place to do this successfully.” She said she realizes the city must do its due diligence and, as such, it could be 12 weeks before a new ordinance is enacted. Boughton said her goal is to have everything in place as far as equipment and volunteers by November 2023. At which time she will be able to begin advertising the extreme weather center, utilizing outlets such as Facebook or handing out flyers to promote awareness. 

“I was surprised and delighted when all the commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the planning commission and look at modifying the ordinance,” Boughton said, “it was a huge win.”

Beca Welty is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice.