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Proposed Temporary Warming Center location in Bozeman neighborhood for sale

Christ the King Church currently serves as Warming Center’s temporary overflow location
Posted at 10:07 AM, Jan 27, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-27 16:22:40-05

BOZEMAN — The idea of opening a temporary warming shelter in a residential area rattled some neighbors in Figgins neighborhood in Bozeman.

Last fall, the Human Resource Development Council planned to open an overflow location to serve women and families between 7pm and 7am, and could accommodate up to 36 people.

The overflow location never opened.

Recently, neighbors started noticing a for sale sign in front of the home off Westridge Drive.

MTN News reached out to the HRDC to confirm whether or not they were planning to abandon plans to make the home a temporary overflow location for the Warming Center, but never received a response.

“I think there was overwhelming opposition from area residents. Main concerns were proximity to schools, proximity to school crosswalk,” said Graham Culver, a resident of the Figgins neighborhood.

“You know, we’re more than a mile away from a public bus stop, so there’d be a lot of new traffic in the neighborhood, and HRDC’s ability to control that traffic was a big.”

One neighbor reported receiving an email from the city of Bozeman, saying that the HRDC had officially withdrew their application for the special use permit needed to open the overflow shelter.

Culver says he’s not opposed to the idea of a temporary warming shelter being in a residential neighborhood, but the location should make sense.

“I think they should refocus their objective on finding a place that’s more conducive and has facilities to support the residents who would be staying in a home like this. Public transportation, they need to close to that, close to other services,” said Culver

“This is way out in the South side of town and logistically it just doesn’t make sense.”

Christ the King Church currently serves as the Warming Center’s temporary overflow location.