There was standing room only at City Hall Tuesday night. More than 100 residents came to plead with the City Council to block construction of a battered women's shelter at Main Street and Mutton Hollow Road.
Their appeal was in vain.After two hours of testimony and discussion, the council refused to overturn the City Planning Commission's March 23 decision to allow the nonprofit Davis Citizens Coalition Against Violence a conditional use permit for construction of a family resource center.
Residents had argued in two contentious planning commission meetings last month that the center would endanger the neighborhood and lower property values in the area. They resurrected the points before the City Council.
"Who's to say what would happen when an angry husband comes in at 2 a.m. to get his wife and can't get in (to the shelter)?" asked an emotional Marla Green, a nearby resident, who went on to say that the husband might vent his rage on people living in nearby homes.
Kaysville Police Chief David Helquist countered that argument by testifying that battered women's shelters in Ogden and Salt Lake City had not experienced increased violence in their environs.
With regard to property values, former Kaysville Mayor Brit Howard, a real estate appraiser, said he had done a study of houses surrounding mental and physical health care facilities in Davis County and found "no significant difference in property values" with similar houses in other areas.
"It was my opinion that (the center) was an appropriate use, and that it would have little impact on the property values of surrounding houses," he said.
The residents did gain a small victory. To help smooth their considerably ruffled feathers, the coalition withdrew its request for a youth center on the property that would have housed teen-age victims of abuse.
Residents had expressed fears that troubled teens would be prowling the neighborhood looking for drugs or money.
Lew Swain, who handles real estate transactions for the coalition, said the group would prove to residents that the center was a good addition to the community before putting the youth center in.
"Our operations are certainly focused on the women's shelter," he said. "What the youth center would be good for is to house boys in battered families who are too old to stay with their mothers in the women's shelter."
The whole messy issue came before the City Council as a formal appeal from the planning commission's decision. That meant the council was sitting as judge and jury in a quasi-judicial proceeding.
Mayor Arthur Johnson made no bones about the fact that he didn't aspire to Solomon's job.
"John, poke me when I'm not doing this right," he told the city manager, John Thacker, sitting next to him.
Throughout the meeting, the planning commission's decision never appeared to be in serious danger. Resident representative Kade Peterson called two witnesses, who testified for only a few minutes, while City Attorney Felshaw King called five witnesses who testified over an hour using numerous documents and charts.
"From their (the residents') testimonies, they didn't give us any facts," Councilwoman Cherie Good-liffe said. "It was mostly opinion."
Though he went along with the council's unanimous vote, Councilman Joe Hill expressed concern about future funding of the center.
"I just wonder down the road . . . I would surely hope that none of this comes back to the city for (financial) support," he said. "You people that are supporting the facility, don't drop the ball."
Funding for the center thus far has come from the Utah Legislature, the United Way and federal community development block grants.