Athens public hearing draws residents for and against Gathering Place 'Conestoga huts'; council amends pilot review to one year

Athens City Council on Monday heard more than an hour of public comment about a Planning Commission recommendation to amend the city zoning code to permit up to three temporary housing shelters (often described as “Conestoga huts”) as a permitted accessory use at 7 and 15 North Congress Street, the property of The Gathering Place.

The hour-plus public hearing brought neighborhood residents, Ohio University students, social workers and people with lived experience of homelessness to the podium to urge both approval and denial. After the public hearing the council held a first reading of the ordinance; council members voted to amend the proposal so the service safety director must review and renew the pilot annually rather than every two years.

The proposal would allow “housing structures of a temporary nature that are not affixed to the property and that do not contain kitchen or bathroom facilities,” with infrastructure limits tied to nearby sinks and toilets, according to the ordinance language read into the record. Supporters said the huts would provide short-term safety and connect people already engaged with The Gathering Place to services; opponents said the location — on North Congress near Ohio University student housing and less than 200 feet from Athens Middle School, according to public comment — raises safety and quality-of-life concerns.

Supporters at the podium included people who identified themselves as Gathering Place members and board members, social workers and staff from local nonprofits. “This isn’t about turning Athens into a tent city,” Arlie Faber, executive director of United Campus Ministry, said. “It’s about creating opportunity” for neighbors who are “already connected to mental health and case management services.” Several speakers described The Gathering Place as a structured program with rules, cameras and on-site staff and said the huts would be a supervised, temporary measure to keep people safe during winter months.

Formerly and currently unhoused speakers and staff emphasized access to services at the site. “There will be close oversight,” Autumn Brown, a Gathering Place board member who also helped operate last winter’s emergency warming center, said. Kent Langus, who identified himself as a senior resident at a nearby sober living house adjacent to the Gathering Place, described his own recovery and said shelter stabilized his life: “Hope is infectious. Hope trumps stigma.”

Opponents included students living at 14–15 North Congress who said they and other young women feel unsafe walking by a parking lot that would host shelters. “I pay a lot of money to rent our house. I want to feel safe,” said Nora Reynolds, who asked who would pay for round-the-clock security and who would be held accountable if incidents occurred. Other opponents raised legal concerns raised in a city legal opinion: that the proposal could be challenged as spot zoning or differential treatment if not aligned with other approvals.

City staff and supporters noted the site’s advantages: proximity to The Gathering Place’s programs and staff, existing camera monitoring and easier linkage to case management and bathrooms. Ginger Schmalenberg, who identified herself as a Gathering Place representative, told council the huts are intended for people who are unhoused generally and said roughly 25% of the Gathering Place population have co-occurring substance use or mental health disorders; she said the organization intends to prioritize vulnerable women.

During the council’s first reading of Ordinance 112-25 (the zoning amendment to permit temporary shelters in an R-3 zone at 7 and 15 North Congress), council member Michelle Swank moved and the council approved an amendment changing the ordinance’s “biennial review” requirement to an annual review for the pilot. The amendment passed without a recorded roll-call vote listed in the transcript.

Council members and staff also noted the Planning Commission already recommended the rezoning language; council members were told a supermajority would be required to alter that recommendation at later stages. The council scheduled additional associated public hearings: a zoning public hearing on the item is set for the council meeting on Nov. 3, and a separate public hearing on related Lancaster/Columbus Road rezoning is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2025.

What happens next: the ordinance received a first reading with a council-approved amendment; it must return for subsequent readings and final action. Several speakers urged the council to adopt the pilot; others asked council to move the huts to a different city-owned parcel or to delay action until additional safeguards and site alternatives are explored.

Ending: Council members closed the public hearing and moved into the regular session; the Conestoga hut proposal will return in future meetings with the amended one-year review language and further chance for public comment.