Category: FUMC Homeless Camp

Over the past couple of weeks the First United Methodist Church has been notifying those camped out in their parking lot that they would have to leave the premises because of potential zoning violations raised by the City of Great Falls.

On Monday morning that process was completed and the FUMC parking lot was cleared of tents, porta-potties, RV’s and campers.

In an email sent to church leadership last week City Manager Greg Doyon reached out and offered the City’s assistance in helping those who need it during the transition.

“I have also asked United Way to provide me with contact information for the best community resource contact to assist homeless who are desirous of assistance when they vacate the property.  Her name and contact information is:

Gina Black Street Outreach/Therapist 1123 Central Ave (Physical Address) Great Falls, MT 59401 Office: 406-216-2300 Cell: 406-836-1360 Fax: 406-216-2305

Again, this is the best primary point of contact to direct the homeless to needed services.“

In addition Mr. Doyon offered the following:

“Finally, I know a group of congregants are exploring the creation of a “low-barrier” shelter.  As they explore options, please be aware that the City participates in the Community Development Block Grant Program.  There may be resources to assist in this endeavor.  I encourage you to contact the CDBG Administrator Tonya Shumaker at 406.455.8443.   Additionally, the Department of Housing and Urban Development have resources that may be helpful.  Additional information may be found here: https://www.hud.gov/topics/homelessness/assist/.“

At the June 14th Great Falls Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission members voted unanimously to recommend the denial of a conditional use permit submitted by the First United Methodist Church to operate an outdoor emergency homeless shelter on their property in downtown Great Falls.

At the meeting several local owners and managers representing downtown businesses in the FUMC neighborhood provided public comment on the impact of the ‘encampment’ on their businesses.

E-City Beat will be publishing some of their comments and thoughts, directly quoted, continuing today with Wes Bentley, manager of the downtown Zip Trip. The entirety of Mr. Bentley’s public comments can seen here, his remarks start at 00:48:00 of the video.

“Our parking lot is right across from where this is going down and I’m just gonna touch on a few things.

Our employees can’t even park in our lot anymore because of the people in the encampment over there vandalizing the cars, they’re spitting on the windows, they’re taking off license plates off of vehicles, I can’t send my employees over there without sending two at a time.

I have people that walk home walk to the job and walk home I now have to go provide them rides by one of my employees because we do not feel safe at 12 o’clock in the morning with one single employee walking by there because we’ve had to kick every single one of those people on that encampment off of our property for stealing or drinking, causing problems, harassing my employees, spitting in their faces…

This isn’t a houseless problem as he calls it. I’ve managed that downtown location since 2017 now and I would say that 75% of the people that he’s allowing on that property have been a problem downtown for five years.

They were recently kicked out of the Mission because of drinking and doing drugs which is what they now continue to do on that property.

They make it dangerous, they’ve attacked other workers from a business right behind us and I’m afraid they’re going to do that to me or one of my employees when we go down to work every day.

I have a family of four… I don’t wanna not go home to my family because of something that’s going on in this encampment that he’s (FUMC’s Rev.Wakeley) trying to allow.

I think that he has the right idea, but downtown isn’t the place for it and the way he’s handling it, it’s not appropriate.

There’s nothing being done about the drug use, the alcohol, the violence, prostitution, masturbating, urinating, I mean we can’t allow for that, we gotta do something about it.

It’s got to be somewhere else. We’re trying to make downtown a better place for businesses and really bring business to downtown, and this is not the right direction.”

At the June 14th Great Falls Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission members voted unanimously to recommend the denial of a conditional use permit submitted by the First United Methodist Church to operate an outdoor emergency homeless shelter on their property in downtown Great Falls.

At the meeting several local owners and managers representing downtown businesses in the FUMC neighborhood provided public comment on the impact of the ‘encampment’ on their businesses.

E-City Beat will be publishing some of their comments and thoughts, directly quoted, continuing today with Darrell Becker, owner of Perkins restaurant and the Midtown Motel. The entirety of Mr. Becker’s public comments can seen here, his remarks start at 00:36:20 of the video.

“My name is Darrell Becker, my wife and I own the Perkins and Midtown restaurant, or Midtown motel, across the street (editors note: ‘across the street’ from the encampment at First United Methodist Church) and you’re absolutely right our Sunday morning you look out our windows and we have a little old lady who’s there for her breakfast and that’s her day out and she gets to watch the lady drop her pants and defecate into the street.

We have found more needles within a block of this homeless, excuse me, your houseless encampment, and let’s face it they’re not all diabetics, I’m not stupid.

You know when you walk down the street and you see the orange tabs every 2 feet and that was not like that last year that was not like that anywhere close to it two years ago.“

“…he (Pastor Wakely) has allowed this, he has not only had them, not him personally, making them come into our building, we have to watch our front door 24 hours a day because they come in they want to sleep in our hallway they want to go use our restrooms which we used to allow, we can’t allow it now.

It is a safety issue – you don’t know what these people are going to do, and I don’t mean any disrespect by referring to anybody as ‘these people’, I don’t know their names, it’s the people from across the street at his houseless encampment.

And I’ve tried to talk to the pastor. I’m sorry, I don’t see where what he is doing is helping in fact I don’t even I don’t know what he’s truly trying to accomplish except to make himself feel better I believe.”

At last week’s Great Falls Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission members voted unanimously to recommend the denial of a conditional use permit submitted by the First United Methodist Church to operate an outdoor emergency homeless shelter on their property in downtown Great Falls.

At the meeting several local owners and managers representing downtown businesses in the FUMC neighborhood provided public comment on the impact of the ‘encampment’ on their businesses.

E-City Beat will be publishing some of their comments and thoughts, directly quoted, starting today with Frank Headley, manager of the downtown IGA. The entirety of Mr. Headley’s public comments can seen here, his remarks start at 00:43:50 of the video.

“With my business being within walking distance I have seen an increase in theft, trespassing, fighting, and no respect to the neighbors or neighborhood around the general area.”

“I do believe that we do need a place like this in Great Falls but not on the property of the First Methodist Church.”

“As it evolved into a tent city rules were not set in place, the camp is not secure or safe, laws are being broken the occupants have disrupted the community.”

“From what I have witnessed in the last five months more occupants have moved into the property, it’s growing.”

“I’ve seen individuals from the camp urinating and defecating behind my building and in some instances on the building itself. I have witnessed one individual masturbating behind the building and with this another couple having sex on the street corner.”

“I’ve discussed this with Pastor Jeff and was asked not to call the police and deal with him directly, he doesn’t want a police presence on his property. it has been a daily occurrence to call 911 for the disturbances, theft, fighting. I’ve personally been spit on, punches have been thrown at me horrible name calling by some of the guests that stay on that property.”

“I do believe that a low barrier shelter is needed for Great Falls which should not be located in the heart downtown.”

“My employees is do not feel safe, our customers do not feel safe either.”

The City of Great Falls Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission will take up a conditional use permit request by the First United Methodist Church in downtown Great Falls to operate an Emergency Shelter on its property.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14 at 3:00 PM in the commission chambers at the Civic Center. The public is encouraged to attend and comment.

City Staff Recommends Denial of CUP

The conditional use permit application submitted by the FUMC includes plans for outdoor shelter with up 20 tents in the parking lot, which currently contains a number of tents as well as several camper vehicles.

Here is the drawing of the proposed Emergency Shelter tent encampment land use. The drawing was a part of the FUMC conditional use permit application.

The Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission will vote to either approve or deny the permit. The request and board recommendation could then be considered by the Great Falls City Commission at a later date.

The agenda packet contains a information as to why City staff has recommended denial of the CUP. You can find the agenda packet here.

In the interest of full transparency and in response to the dozens of complaints, comments and expressions of concern I’ve received over the past couple of months I am taking this opportunity to share the information made publicly available concerning the action recently taken by the City of Great Falls related to the ‘homeless encampment’ at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Great Falls.

Here is the full text of the press release issued by the City:

“Draft Press Release – First United Methodist Church Homeless Encampment

Over the past six months, First United Methodist Church has been expanding its homeless outreach ministry located at 610 2nd Ave N.  Initially, the church provided food and space for homeless persons.  Recently, the church expanded its activities into a tent and camper encampment in violation of the City of Great Falls Municipal Code.     

The City has notified Pastor Jeff Wakeley that the Church is required under the City’s zoning ordinance to obtain a Conditional Use Permit to even operate any type of homeless shelter in the first instance.  The Church has since submitted a CUP application that is currently being processed by City staff, and will ultimately be presented to the Great Falls Zoning Commission within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, the Church was also placed on notice in early May that the tent and camper encampment is a separate violation of the City’s zoning code, which does not permit campgrounds in the zoning district where the Church is located.  The Church did not respond to that notice by removing the tents and camping arrangements as directed, so the City has now filed a lawsuit in District Court to enforce its zoning requirements.

Finally, the City has also begun the process of reviewing and responding to several citizen complaints regarding a “public nuisance” condition on the property under City Code.  That process can ultimately lead to a City Commission hearing on the matter and a possible order from the City Commission that the nuisance conditions on the property be abated.

The City had hoped that First United Methodist Church would work with the MT Continuum of Care Coalition and other existing service providers to assist the homeless.  Instead, First United has sought to expand its efforts stating that the City has not done enough to support a “low barrier” shelter.”

Here is a copy of the complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief filed by the City in District Court to “enforce its zoning requirements”.