The basement room of a Downtown building where the Pittsburgh City Planning Commission holds its meetings typically sees a handful of attendees fill seats reserved for the public.
But a hearing and vote on plans for a custodial care facility in Banksville drew more than a dozen residents to the room on Tuesday, plus others joining virtually, several of whom publicly shared their disapproval of the facility.
“We aren’t asking this commission to ignore the needs of people leaving incarceration. We’re asking you to recognize that Banksville has already carried its share of difficult land uses,” said resident Dianne Arnold.
Seated among the Banksville attendees was Allegheny County Councilor Bob Palmosina, who opposed the facility’s proposed location during public comment. State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, and state Rep. Daniel Deasy, D-Westwood, sent letters of opposition to the body, said Palmosina, who lives on the edge of Banksville.
“I don’t disagree with what you’re doing — I believe you’re faithful and I believe that you want to do what’s best for these individuals, and so do we,” Palmosina said to representatives from Kentucky-based nonprofit Dismas Charities, at the meeting. “I just do not believe in where it’s going.”
Dismas, which operates 40 re-entry facilities in 15 states not including Pennsylvania, proposed the project. If approved, the facility would serve as a “last stop” for people previously incarcerated and on their way back to the community.
The two-story building would include dorm-style rooms on the first floor for up to 92 men, a dorm on the second floor for 12 women, a commercial kitchen, and shared spaces for visits and leisure. The building has previously been the office of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, which represents city officers.
The commission, after lengthy discussion that followed close to 30 minutes of public comment, voted 4-2 to submit a negative recommendation to City Council.
While council has the final say on whether Dismas’ request for a conditional use gets approved, the negative recommendation from the commission means it will take a council supermajority to approve it.
Commissioner Bob Reppe, who voted against the negative recommendation, said a conditional-use application, like the one submitted by Dismas, is typically a “cut-and-dry thing.”
These applications are reserved for developments that are legally allowed to exist in an area, so long as the applicant can prove that it meets certain conditions. Someone in objection to the facility can try to prove that it would have an outsized impact on health, safety or general welfare. The meeting left Reppe torn.
“None of the [residents’] concerns gave any evidence of the applicant not meeting the criteria of the code,” he said. “On the same side, I’m not convinced that the applicant had done the same as well, where they have not convinced me that they have met the conditions of the code.”
In its application, Dismas noted that .08% of residents returned to its facilities as repeat clients over the last five years. Deborah Wiley, a resident of Banksville for 31 years, questioned that claim during her public remarks: The national recidivism average, she said, sits around 45%.
In any case, she said, any recidivism at all would affect her neighborhood.
“Every incident, behind whatever the real rate is, will happen in Banksville — to our neighbors, at our businesses and near our children.”
Michele Bertini, a resident of Banksville for about 14 years, said that she knew from her career as a psychotherapist how important a person’s environment is for rehabilitation. But the proposed facility’s proximity to a Days Inn and Comfort Inn & Suites, where she said crime currently exists, runs counter to that.
Stationing up to 104 people who are attempting to re-enter the community on that site is putting them “in temptation’s way by setting them up for possible failure due to the past history of drug dealing and prostitution in those hotels,” she said.
Several Banksville residents, including Bertini, said they were also concerned about the possibility of bringing registered sex offenders close to Banksville Elementary School, South Hills Middle School and Pittsburgh Brashear High School.
While it would be possible for sex offenders to enter the proposed facility, Bob Sittig, counsel for Dismas, shared a screenshot of the Megan’s Law website showing that such persons already live or work within a mile radius of the proposed facility.
Cathy Bellew, vice president of business development for Dismas, said that any resident who wants to leave the facility must receive approval by staff. All residents also go through a risk assessment before living in the facility, she said.
When someone leaves without permission, or is unaccounted for after leaving for work or services, the nonprofit gets in touch with the person’s close contacts and public safety officials in 30 minutes.
But residents said that for some nearby facilities, 30 minutes would not be soon enough.
Dismas sought to expand its footprint to Pennsylvania at the suggestion of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which refers potential residents. Dismas was a preferred choice for a new re-entry facility in Pittsburgh, Sittig said.
Mia Hollie is the economic development and housing reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at mia@publicsource.org.
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