SHELTER SITE OPPOSED STOREFRONT'S NEIGHBORS WORRY ABOUT PANHANDLING, DRINKING.

Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The 3,300-square-foot space between an auto parts shop and an art gallery has been vacant for years - entrepreneurs turned away and the two large rooms standing empty.

Until now, when a plan for the storefront is raising tempers and concern among local business owners.

The Santa Clarita Community Development Corp. is asking the city to issue a conditional-use permit that would allow a homeless shelter to occupy the space at 17714 Sierra Highway for the next five years.

The shelter is moving from the Santa Clarita sports complex, where it was housed for three years until the city was ready to build a community center. The city is ready and shelter organizers need to find a place for 38 beds, two bathrooms, a kitchen and dining facilities for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Rev. Lynn Jay of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, who helped open the center in 1997 after El Nino brought flooding and cool temperatures to Southern California, said it was difficult to find a relocation site.

If it doesn't find a home before Nov. 18, it will lose grant money and there won't be a warm place for the homeless to sleep and eat this winter, she said.

``Nobody would have us,'' Jay said. ``We have begged everyone. There are so many reasons why people don't want us.''

Mall business owners said neither the city nor landlord has notified them about the shelter and they're concerned about the future of their livelihood. The don't want people panhandling customers, sleeping in doorways or loitering. They also wonder about how the parking lot will handle the traffic or whether any of the homeless will drink at the tavern next to the gallery.

``I don't want to see it go in,'' said Barbara Joseph, co-owner of B&R Gallery. ``I don't see it being good for the area.''

There are rules people must follow to sleep and eat at the shelter, Jay said. That includes no panhandling, loitering or abusing alcohol and drugs.

``Once you're there, you're there,'' she said. ``You have to follow the rules.''

Ideally, the organization hopes to find a self-contained building to house between 30 and 35 people of the nearly 250 homeless a night, Jay said. Now, it's too expensive.

Jeff Hogan, an associate planner with the city of Santa Clarita, said the Planning Commission will likely approve the permit, but it will go before a public hearing in November.

``There are a lot of people who support them,'' Hogan said, but the city will notify area businesses and residents of the plans to get their opinion.

Jay said there have been a few dissenting voices, but that he reminds them that as the area grows, so will the homeless population. As a fortunate middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood, she said, it should act responsibility and help the less fortunate.

``It's really only as strong as its weakest link,'' she said of the community. ``It's going to take some kind of real grace to have all the pieces of this shelter come together at one time.''

The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at City Hall. For more information, call the Santa Clarita Department of Planning and Building Services at [phone].

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Map: Proposed homeless shelter