St. Vincent de Paul Society Will Move Facility to Linden Avenue

The will relocate its food and support services facility from Grand Avenue to 938 Linden Avenue within a year, after it completes renovations on the city-owned building.

The move was made possible after the city council approved a use permit for the new facility at its meeting Wednesday night. The council heard extensive public comment from supporters of the plan saying the move would help serve needy local residents, and from detractors who said the facility would have a degrading effect on Old Town.

“As much as the cause is a noble one, the fact remains that there will be many homeless persons being served,” said resident Laura Gonzalez, saying that there are already homeless people who sleep in the area and use drugs. “We just worry for the safety of our children.”

But Larry Nejasmich, president of the San Mateo County St. Vincent de Paul Society, said the extensive improvements planned for the facility would have a positive effect on the community.

“We upgrade the neighborhood, we don’t downgrade the neighborhood,” Nejasmich said. “Drug dealers aren’t our clients. Every property we’ve dealt with has gone up in value.”

“The vast majority of people we help are like you and me,” said Martin Schuur, St. Vincent de Paul’s restorative justice chaplain. “It is right and just of us to take care of our own. None of us are adverse in these times from suffering.”

SP Controls, a technology company located next door to 938 Linden, hired a lawyer to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision in favor of the use permit. SP Controls also commissioned an appraisal of the impact the St. Vincent de Paul Society would have on its property value. A copy of the appraisal by Hulberg & Associates provided by SP Controls co-owner Paul Brown found that the St. Vincent de Paul facility would cause the next-door property to lose $380,000 in value.

“In the past, especially in front of the Planning Commission, the city has done a good job of painting us as a NIMBY,” Brown said. “And we are. But so are they. They don’t want it on Grand Avenue.”

“The city is picking the winners and the losers in the city, and it has consistently picked our neighborhood as the losers,” Brown said.

According to Executive Director Lorraine Moriarty, the city has encouraged the St. Vincent de Paul Society to move from Grand Avenue for 14 years. City officials suggested the new space on Linden Avenue, which Moriarty said offered the opportunity for a more modern facility.

“What we’re looking for is a solution to serve folks with more dignity,” Moriarty said. She said at the current building, clients can often be found “waiting in drafty alleys, lining up two to three abreast in the short hallway, blocking the only bathroom door.”

Mayor Kevin Mullin said he supported the decision because it would improve the services St. Vincent de Paul provides.

“The central question I’ve been dealing with is the existing situation on Grand and the suboptimal situation,” Mullin said. “There’s a lack of services in [Old Town], and that’s one of the main problems. I believe it will be an enhancement of this neighborhood.”

“You know how you get to become a good neighbor is you get to know your neighbors,” said Vice Mayor Richard Garbarino. “Go in and volunteer, get to know who these neighbors are. We can’t forget about those people who live on the fringe. I’m 100 percent behind this project.”

The debate over the move may indeed have created better neighbors. Brown, who spent the week organizing neighbors and distributing fliers against the relocation, hugged St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director Moriarty before he left the meeting. He had nothing but compliments for her and the work of the organization; Moriarty and Brown got to know each other when Moriarty brought over cake to discuss the dispute after it went before the Planning Commission.

“Strangely, this has been a positive experience for me” even though the decision didn’t go his way, Brown said in an email. “I feel more involved and aware of the community here.”

Now that the use permit is in place, the St. Vincent de Paul Society needs to complete negotiations with the city to buy 938 Linden Avenue, hire a contractor and complete extensive renovations. Once the move is completed, likely within a year, it will turn its entire space on Grand Avenue over to its retail store.