The Lincoln City Council on Monday agreed with neighbors that a proposed assisted-living facility doesn't belong in their neighborhood.
The council voted 5-2 to reverse a decision by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission to grant a special permit to allow Harbor Senior Care to run a residential assisted-living facility in a home at 3737 Calvert St.
Harbor wanted to house 12 seniors with Alzheimer's disease or dementia in the home on a more than 1-acre lot with a potential expansion to allow up to 16 people.
The Harbor, which is based in Omaha, opened a similar facility last August near 84th Street and Pioneers Boulevard, and CEO Chris Gille said it quickly reached capacity, leading the company to seek another Lincoln location.
The house on Calvert Street has more than 4,800 square feet of finished space and a large backyard that would be fenced off and allow residents to have a secure outdoor space.
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Katie Hartman, the administrator of the home and Gille's sister, said the concept works because the residents are living in a home and not an institutional setting.
"What makes it important is that it's a home in a neighborhood," Hartman said.
She said the company chose the Calvert Street home because of the setting, including the large lot and the number of trees.
Hartman said that most of the residents are older than 85 and toward the end of their lives, are homebound and will not cause the disruption that neighbors are worried about.
"Truly that is not going to be the case here," she said.
But neighbors disagreed, noting that the home would change to a commercial business that operates 24 hours a day.
Trixie Schmidt, who lives nearby, said that while Harbor Senior Care has a good business model, it is still a business and, "it shouldn't be in this residential neighborhood."
"To say it will still look like a residence doesn't fly," she said.
Aesthetics aside, the biggest concern for most neighbors was the prospect of increased traffic and parking issues.
Hartman said Harbor Senior Care would have a maximum of four staff members at a time, but it also has regular family visitors, visits from medical providers and deliveries of groceries and other items.
There would be seven on-site parking parking spaces, which neighbors argued would likely not be enough.
"It boils down to the parking issue," said Marty Fortney, a neighbor who noted that no parking is allowed on either side of Calvert Street during weekdays.
Some neighbors also expressed concerns about stormwater runoff in the area and how potential improvements planned at the home could exacerbate those issues.
In the end, most council members who voted against the home said they were concerned less about parking and more about the number of residents proposed and the fact that a special permit would stay with the home forever.
Councilwoman Sandra Washington, who said she "would love to have this facility in my neighborhood, offered a motion to delay a vote for a week to try to work out a compromise that would appease the neighbors and allow the project to go forward. But her amendment was voted down 5-2.
Those who voted to uphold the appeal highlighted two main issues: the number of people proposed to live in the facility and the fact that a special permit would allow the home to operate as some kind of residential health care facility forever.
Councilman Richard Meginnis said he liked the idea of providing care for dementia patients in a residential setting, but, "I just don't like the idea of this being permanent."