Homeless hotel planned for downtown Jeffersonville Council turns down day center proposal

JEFFERSONVILLE — Jesus Cares at Exit 0 founder Paul Strensrud said the J & J Video building, along Michigan Avenue in downtown Jeffersonville, will be used as transitional housing for the area’s homeless.

That’s after the Jeffersonville City Council, on Monday night, voted against a zoning change that would have allowed it to become a day center — a place to shower, use a computer and do laundry — for the homeless.

Strensrud and other members of his organization had requested to change the zoning from highway commercial to downtown commercial. A motion to change the zoning was defeated by eight votes, with Councilman Zach Payne being the lone supporter. Strensrud said transitional housing would be allowed under the current zoning, as such an establishment could technically be classified as a hotel. Further, he noted, the Christian group will take its feeding operation from the J & J building back to the area beneath I-65, at exit 0, where it began.

Prior to Monday’s vote, those both for and against the day center proposal spoke to the council. Mary Jo Carrico, member of the Rose Hill neighborhood association, urged the council to garner advice from the Southern Indiana Housing Initiative instead of approving the rezoning. With the help of that nonprofit agency, she said, the city could create a comprehensive plan to address Jeffersonville’s homelessness issue.

Steve Stenbro, owner of the Market Street Inn, agreed that helping the homeless was a noble cause but told members it needed to be addressed in a different way.

“I would not approve of zoning changes,” he said.

Pastor Don Summerfield, of First Presbyterian Church of Jeffersonville, urged the council to support the rezoning, saying that the exit 0 group was trying to fulfill a need that’s now being met, by default, by restaurants and other business in the downtown area.

“This is a problem that’s not just Jeffersonville’s — it’s everywhere guys,” Strensrud said as he urged the council to approve it. He cited a recent newsandtribune.com poll that showed about 60 percent were in favor of allowing the center to open. The poll was not scientific.

“The community is behind this,” he said.

The council voted it down but a few members agreed that it’s an issue that still needs to be addressed.

“Even if we turn this down it doesn’t mean we can’t revisit the issue,” said councilman Matt Owen.

Councilman Nathan Samuel said Jeffersonville needs to take a “big picture” look at the issue in order to address homelessness.

For a long time the J & J Video building had been vacant, but Jesus Cares began using it as a day center late last year. Corporation counsel Tom Lowe said the city has allowed them to continue to do so as it’s been seeking the zoning change. As the council now voted it down, a cease and desist letter will be sent to the owner of the property, Lowe said.