Lake domestic violence shelter to appeal after county denies request to house more residents

Orlando Sentinel - 1/31/2020

Jan. 31--For more than a year, Haven of Lake and Sumter Counties has turned away several hundred domestic violence victims because the shelter is zoned to house only 14 temporary residents.

The Lady Lake shelter -- the only provider in the area -- asked Lake County commissioners to increase its capacity by replacing the current zoning ordinance with another that caps at 120 people. But commissioners denied the request Tuesday in a 4-1 vote, citing neighbor concerns of public safety and an agreement made when the shelter opened in 2001.

Now, Haven executive director Kelly Smallridge is trying to figure out a way to serve at least 40 residents, the average number of people the shelter has been accommodating for many years.

"We have to move forward, we have to appeal or do something," she said. "My biggest concern is somebody is going to get hurt, somebody is going to die."

When Smallridge began working for Haven 16 years ago, she and staff were unaware of the shelter's minimal capacity, she said.

That oversight emerged in October 2018 when a Lake County code-enforcement officer visited the property after a neighbor complaint and informed staff of the zoning ordinance.

Eighteen people were quickly relocated. Some were able to find a spot in nearby shelters. A few others were set up in a budget motel. One woman said she considered returning to her abuser.

Since then, Haven's staff has been referring people who call their 24-hour crisis hotline to nearby shelters in Orange, Seminole, Marion and Citrus counties.

"I had no idea," Smallridge said of the ordinance. "No one blatantly violated the law -- we just didn't know about it."

Haven's plans involved an expansion in three phases, with an animal shelter, but there is currently no extra funding available so even if it was approved, it could be years before any buildings would be constructed on the property. Smallridge said her main priority was to resume taking in up to 40 residents.

County Commissioner Josh Blake said Tuesday that he researched the minutes from the 2001 meeting when the shelter was granted zoning approval and noted that Haven officials asserted there would never be expansion on the property.

"The neighbors were promised that it would be no more than 14 people at the facility," Blake said before making the motion to deny Haven's request. "I'm certain the demand is there, I'm just looking at what the county agreed to and what the residents were promised."

About a dozen neighbors spoke at the commission meeting, recounting stories of Haven residents walking along a narrow county road -- that doesn't have street lights or sidewalks -- to the nearest convenience store.

Sara Dawson, who lives next door to Haven, said she didn't know about the shelter's existence when her family purchased their home a couple of years ago because it looks like a private residence. Dawson said her house has frequently been mistaken for the Haven shelter and she lives in constant fear for her two young daughters.

"I am against the capacity, location and operations of the Haven," she said. "Even an increase to 40 [people] is detrimental."

The most prominent suggestion from commissioners and neighbors was for Haven to relocate its shelter to another area within the county.

But Smallridge said that's a complicated solution.

Haven was given a federal grant with a 50-year lien when it first opened and a capital improvement grant ten years ago with a 20-year lien.

"Even if we are able to sell it and move and do all the things they want us to, where am I going to get the money?" she asked. "What I could sell that property for isn't going to bring the millions of dollars that I'm going to have to put into a new facility just to serve 40 people."

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