Town Planning Commission Gets Serious About Shelters and Other Alternative Housing

In a discussion on the evening of Wednesday, April 2, following their review of items headed for public hearings, the Town Planning Commission turned its attention to the need for shelters and other alternative housing here in Front Royal. Commissioner Allen Neel has been a crucial piece in beginning the process of research and forming questionnaires to reach out to the appropriate organizations, like the Phoenix Project, who can better inform the Town about the needs they perceive and provide the Town with much-needed information about how best to update the zoning ordinance. Target groups for this kind of residential living include but are not limited to adults with developmental challenges, domestic abuse victims, veterans, and families who need a temporary place to stay due to an emergency. It became clear as the conversation continued that the Town of Front Royal can learn a great deal from other localities which may be stricter like Alexandria but are useful models for consideration, nonetheless.

The Town Planning Commission sits in readiness for a work session on the evening of Wednesday, April 2. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

Modeled graphically in the evening’s agenda itself is a preexisting network in Front Royal of organizations that are fighting for social justice. One such organization, the Warren Coalition, has come before the commission requesting a special-use permit to operate a lodging house at 506 North Royal Avenue to assist women in recovery from drug abuse. In a letter to the commission, Warren Coalition Executive Director Christa Shifflett says: “This house is slated to become a six-bed women’s recovery home with a live-in house manager who is a peer recovery specialist. As with the other two recovery houses we are already running, it will be a Level 3 residence, which means that those coming into the house will need to have completed in-patient or outpatient treatment within the past 30 days or actively be in outpatient care. We will continue to work with Warren County Drug Court to accept people into this house. Residents will include people using medication-assisted treatments excluding methadone. These medications will be secured and administered only at the appropriate times.”

She goes on to say: “Through our program, we assist people in recovery in obtaining employment, their driver’s license, appropriate clothing, medical care, and food. When needed, we provide transportation to and from work or medical appointments. When accepting someone into one of our recovery houses, our goal is to have them employed within 30 days (unless they are part of the Drug Court, in which case they may have other obligations to fulfill). Since opening our first house in May 2023, we have successfully assisted every client with obtaining employment.” Shifflett also explains the reason why this facility will focus on women: “You may be aware that we currently have a women’s recovery house at 200 North Royal Ave. This house, which holds nine people and was our first recovery house, will revert to a men’s facility. We feel it is in the best interest of the community and our clients to move the women to the smaller facility because we typically have a waitlist for men, while the number of women we are assisting each month has remained at four to six.”

Deputy Zoning Administrator John Ware presents to the commission items headed for public hearings.

Other items the commission considered at their work session were an ordinance amendment pertaining to fees, charges, and expenses that will render justice to staff’s time by increasing the cost for certain applications; a zoning text amendment that would allow lodging houses by special-use permit in the R-1 zoning district; and a special-use permit to operate a private school at 16 North Royal Avenue. Before they adjourned, the Commission discussed a proposed text amendment from the Board of Architectural Review. The request reads as follows: “In an effort to further maintain the historic character of Front Royal’s historical district, we are writing to formally request a zoning text amendment to limit all new construction in the residential portion of the district to only single-family homes and preserve all existing single-family homes as single-family homes.”

Click here to watch the Front Royal Planning Commission Meeting of April 2, 2025