Tuesday Apr 29

Commission OKs permit for teen home

Church, nonprofit aim to build 14-unit complex for former foster care children in E. Palo Alto

By Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer

After months of slogging through the city's approval process, a local church and nonprofit are a step closer to building a facility for transitional youth in East Palo Alto.

On Monday evening, the East Palo Alto Planning Commission approved planning and architectural review permits for Faith Baptist Ministry Church and EPA Can Do, allowing them to continue work on a 14-unit home for teenagers coming out of the state foster care system.

The proposed 4,980-square-foot home at 855 Runnymede St., next to Faith Baptist, could eventually house 12 males, along with two counselors, and offer the teens a stable living environment in which to attend school, find employment and learn important life skills.

Led by Robert Jones, a church board member and EPA Can Do's executive director, the church and nonprofit have spent about $40,000 so far on architectural plans, financial analyses and a study conducted in 2005 to determine how many teenagers in San Mateo County would be eligible to live at the home.

According to the 2005 study, more than 30 East Palo Alto teens are released from state-funded foster care and juvenile hall each year. That's about 12 percent of the county's total, according to the study, which cost $13,000.

Jones first applied to the city last May for a permit to demolish an existing structure and start construction, but he and Floyd Purdy, the church's pastor, have been planning the transition home for about three years.

"I think the commissioners realized that we aren't just building housing, we're building futures," Jones said after the meeting. "I'm so relieved, but it's not over yet."

Jones and Purdy still need to conduct an environmental impact analysis, which will likely focus on traffic and noise, and have it approved by the commission.

The commission, which approved the permits 5-0, with three members absent, agreed with city staff that the project conformed with all of the city's density and architecture requirements.

Some neighbors have opposed the project, claiming that 14 units on a half-acre is too dense. Former mayor Bill Vines has been the most vocal, though he did not attend the commission's meeting Monday. But four members of the public spoke in favor of the project.

"We should be glad to support something that's going to help these young kids," Stewart Hyland said.

Jones said the project's budget was previously about $3.2 million, but could be higher due to inflation. He said grant funding will cover most of the cost, but that the sources will not commit until the project is approved by the city. Because the process has also taken longer than expected, Jones said he's missed some deadlines and will need to reapply for some funds.

Once it's built, the home will be operated by Jeremiah's Promise, a nonprofit that runs two similar homes in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale. Chairwoman Charlotte Rogers, told the commission that the prospective tenants go through an extensive screening process before being accepted into the program. She also said that teens emerging from foster care return to some type of institutional supervision, even prison, at a rate of between 20 and 40 percent.

"The statistics are just horrible for these kids," Rogers said.

E-mail Banks Albach at balbach@dailynewsgroup.com.