CHAPEL HILL - The public got an opportunity to express support and concerns about the proposed site for the Inter-Faith Council's new men's shelter Monday.

The public meeting was the latest step in a series of steps the IFC faces as it seeks a special-use permit application from the Chapel Hill Town Council. About 30 people attended the information meeting, which included presentations by town senior planner Kay Pearlstein on the SUP process, by IFC executive director Chris Moran on the purpose of the facility, and by GGA Architects on architectural details and plans.

The proposed $3.8 million, two-story facility would replace the current men's homeless shelter downtown. It would be located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near the corner of Homestead Road. It would hold 52 beds for a new men's transitional housing program as well as an additional 17 beds for an overnight emergency shelter during inclement weather. The first-floor emergency shelter would be separate from the programs' upstairs residential units.

Residents of the transitional program would have the opportunity to move from a 20-bunk bed dormitory, to a quad, then to a double room while making progress in the program. The facility would also include laundry services, a private kitchen and clinics to provide free medical and dental services for up to 100 people. The plan would separate the public Community Kitchen program that currently housed in the Community House facility on Rosemary Street

Representatives from an organized neighbors group that opposes the proposed site questioned the concentration of social services and the safety of the emergency shelter for the surrounding neighborhood. The emergency shelter would not necessarily bar those who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol from seeking shelter.

"It's all about behavior," said Moran.

He said homeless people who are disruptive would be asked to leave, and he emphasized that if another agency offered an emergency shelter service, the IFC would remove it from the permit. "We can't totally divorce ourselves from that population," he said. Those staying in the emergency shelter would be screened and asked to show identification, and by law, sex offenders would not be allowed in either the transitional or emergency housing.

"It still has the same problems it did from day one," said Mark Peters, who has organized neighborhood support against the site. Peters said the IFC's proposal still concentrates social services in a small part of town and was not vetted with public input.