There are no plans at present to turn a vacant Chatham Catholic school located in Birdland into a homeless shelter.
That’s the official word from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in response to rumours the building was going to be utilized as a transitional home for men.
According to a news release from the municipality, the former Monsignor Uyen School on Lark Street was purchased by a group led by Clarke Construction in August of this year, but creating a shelter is not the goal.
In the statement, Clarke Construction Group president Darryl Clarke said the rumours are untrue.
“While we respect and value the creation of shelters, that is not our vision for this property,” Clarke said. “We will reveal more details on this exciting development once we get further into the process.”
To date, the owners have not presented a redevelopment proposal for the property to the municipality. If the Clarke group decides to do that in the future, such a proposal would be subject to Chatham-Kent’s planning process, which includes public consultation.
In the short term, the owners have donated the use of the property to the Chatham Goodfellows as a base of operations for the No Child Without a Christmas campaign.
A document that has been circulating in the Birdland neighbourhood stated the building was going to be used as a 35-bed transitional home for men, relating it to the closure of a home for men on Riverview Drive.
The document, citing safety concerns, asked residents who didn’t agree with the former school being used as a shelter to contact members of council to let them know they are opposed.
If the plans were positive for the neighbourhood they would have been made public. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. The initial plans weren’t positive but the neighbourhood found out the plans before they could be fulfilled. Hopefully plans are a now positive addition to “ Birdland” community and involve the school neighbours for input. This is a lovely area with mature trees. Hope they keep the trees on the lot too. I’d love to be involved in the process.