SALT LAKE CITY — A hearing officer ruled in favor of a vocational training school that reforms convicted criminals, saving it from shutting down its treatment programs over zoning regulations.
The Other Side Academy, 667 E. 100 South, is a nonprofit vocational training school that houses and reforms convicts, drug addicts, the homeless or anyone in between. The two-year rehabilitation facility teaches life skills to students through working in teams at the academy's training schools.
The academy received a conditional use permit in March, authorizing the nonprofit to run as a large group home with specialized treatment. But in April, the Salt Lake City Planning Division decided the organization violated land use zoning designations.
The planning division argued that certain "commercial activities" of the vocational training schools, like parking moving trucks on the property or using the facility's kitchen for preparing items for the academy's food truck, isn't allowed in residential areas.
"It really came down to some technicalities, as I read it," said academy CEO Tim Stay. "By divorcing the commercial activities and saying we can’t do those on site, that would really impact our model."
"Otherwise we just become a dormitory, and we’re not able to do that specialized treatment that is part of our model," he added.
The academy faced a hearing before the city planning division on July 19.
The hearing officer ruled in favor of the academy on Thursday. His report stated the city planning commission knew of the moving trucks and the prep kitchen when it originally issued the permit but did nothing to restrict the activities before granting the permit.
"It has been well-established in the record of this appeal by the documents as well as the oral testimony of qualified experts that these disputed activities are an integrated part of this specific Large Group Home use, and constitute 'specialized treatment' for those who benefit from the work of (The Other Side Academy)," the report stated. "The uses were not hidden and, from the record, appear to have been fully disclosed in the process of reviewing the conditional use application."
The academy's vocational training schools include The Other Side Movers, the Promise Land Food Truck, a lawn care service and The Other Side Thrift Boutique, opening next Tuesday in Murray.
All proceeds from the vocational training schools go directly to house, feed and clothe students, all at no charge.
"We were very happy about the decision," Stay said. "Learning how to work and how to stay employed is really the more important skill that we believe we’re teaching."
The academy now serves 67 students, and the average student has been arrested about 25 times. All students apply voluntarily and many attend as an alternative to incarceration.
The vocational training schools teach soft skills, Stay explained, like honesty, accountability and learning how to work with others and receive feedback.
"They’ve been plumbers or welders or construction workers, but they haven’t been able to maintain a job because of the destructive behaviors that they engage in," he said. "We’re working on those underlying behaviors that led them into lives of crime or lives of addiction."
The academy's next step is expanding its housing and opening a new vocational training school, a thrift store at 4290 S. State in Murray. The store gives students another vocational training method to work together and learn life skills.
"Not everybody can work on the moving company," Stay said. "It’s an educational model where you learn by doing. You learn how to live a successful life by practicing living a successful life in a highly accountable and highly structured environment.”
The boutique is stocked with donations received from The Other Side Movers company.