Fort Bragg voters to decide on downtown social services ban

Fort Bragg voters will decide in June whether to retroactively ban social services- related operations in the city’s core downtown business district.

The Fort Bragg City Council opposes the measure, but voted this week to place it on the ballot following a successful signature drive by its proponents. Concerned Citizens of Fort Bragg gathered 660 signatures, well over the 469 valid signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, said Anne Marie Cesario, a member of the group.

It was their second attempt to qualify the measure for the ballot. The first failed to qualify by just one signature.

The initiative was triggered by the in-progress conversion of a 123-year-old hotel into a homeless outreach center. Hospitality House, which provides mental health, drug rehabilitation and homeless services, has moved its offices into the Old Coast Hotel but has additional work to do before the facility will be fully operational. Plans include the operation of five transitional housing units.

The ballot measure’s proponents say the downtown location is inappropriate. It lacks privacy for clients and adequate parking and disabled access, critics say. They also have said it will attract crime and repel tourists from a city still suffering from an economic slump.

Opponents of the hotel conversion project also sued the city over the project earlier this year, but later dropped the effort in favor of pursuing a second run at a ballot measure.

Cesario said she’s pleased the measure now is going to a vote.

“We’re determined for people to be able to exercise their democratic rights,” she said.

But Cesario said she’s disappointed the council opted to add the measure to the June 2016 primary ballot instead of holding a special election earlier next year. City officials say combining it with a scheduled election saves taxpayers thousands of dollars in election costs.

City officials say they’re skeptical the ordinance, if approved by voters, will hold up in court.

Fort Bragg Mayor Dave Turner said the ballot measure is faulty, particularly the retroactive zoning aimed at undoing the Old Coast Hotel project. Turner was the subject of a failed recall effort that was at least partly triggered by the project.

“I don’t think it’s enforceable,” he said of the measure. “I think it’s ill conceived, ill written and unlikely to pass.”

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.