By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The latest step in creating a west-end Racine County women’s domestic violence shelter took a major step forward Monday night.
The Racine County Economic Development and Land Use Planning Committee on Monday approved a conditional use permit for Women’s Resource Center to develop a shelter and resource center at the former Dover School.
“It was absolutely wonderful,” said WRC Executive Director Cherie Griffin. Last week, the Town of Dover also gave its approval.
“Not only did both boards take the time to review our conditional use permit, but both spoke to their support of our services that we offer and their desire to support the most vulnerable of citizens in their community,” Griffin said.
The approval likely puts an end to the search for a western Racine County site for the WRC. Plans to use a multi-family dwelling in Burlington fell through in the fall when residents objected to the location – across the street from Cooper Elementary School.
The Dover School property, at 23303 Church Road, is owned by the adjacent St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Dover, and served as the parish grade school before being leased to the Burlington Area School District and used as Dover Elementary School. The district closed Dover School in 2010 as a money-saving measure.
The original site was planned to be a 12-20 bed shelter as well as offices for WRC programs. The Dover facility will have four bedrooms, though Griffin is unsure of how many beds.
“It could potentially house four families at any time,” she explained.
There will also be the Hand to Hand Safe Exchange, as well as other program offices, including the Safe Start program, which addresses teen dating violence.
The need for the safe exchange program on the west end was spoken to specifically at the Racine County meeting, Griffin said.
Throughout the process – both in the pursuit of the Burlington property to the current site – Griffin has stressed that she and the shelter would not be a danger to anyone. She stated repeatedly last fall that a shelter in an area does not result in a rise in violence.
“Women’s Resource Center would never put itself in a position to do something that’s non-peaceful or dangerous for our county or our communities,” Griffin said last week.
She said she is grateful that, throughout the process in Burlington, people were open to the idea – if not the site.
“We have gained new friends in this process,” she said. “We have opened people’s eyes to domestic violence.”
Griffin was disappointed the Burlington site fell through, as the WRC had invested a good deal of time and money in that project.
“I was disappointed that we couldn’t see that property to fruition,” she said. “There was never a second where we felt we were abandoning this cause altogether.”
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