Not everyone is in favor of all aspects of the St. Susan Center’s move from Water Street to downtown Jamestown.

Zoning Board of Appeals members met recently to discuss a zoning variance requested by the center that would allow the center to locate refrigeration units closer to the property line of the former Jamestown Business College property than is included in the city’s code.

But we wonder how much of the neighbor’s issue is the location of the refrigeration unit and how much is “change in relationship between them and St Susan’s,” as was reported recently in The Post-Journal. The letter writers asked for either a decline of the variance request or a postponement until more information on the coolers could be obtained and a longer public comment period.

Zoning board members ended up granting the variance with no delay. It was the right move. The variance is needed for the project to move forward and not granting the variance would have placed an undue burden on the center as it works to move into a new location and expand its reach.

But we do agree with Zoning Board of Appeals members who said the St Susan’s board should work with the neighbors on their concerns. Camouflaging the coolers shouldn’t be a problem. It’s the “change in relationship between them and St. Susan’s” that center officials need to be wary of as this transition takes place. The concerns raised by Andrea Hatfield, who spoke recently to City Council members, are likely shared by those who live around Jamestown Business College.

“We have had a dramatic upswing in stranger activity, like a gentleman who claimed to be homeless going down Hotchkiss Street, sitting on porches, trying to get into people’s garages,” Hatfield said, noting an increase in unfamiliar faces making their way through her neighborhood while admitting that while not all the unfamiliar faces cause any major issues for the neighborhood it’s raising concerns nonetheless..

It was one thing for neighbors to have a college operating in the area. It’s another to have a soup kitchen as the new neighbor. It’s entirely another to have the UCAN Mission using part of the former JBC property, too.

The St. Susan Center does important work for a segment of the community that desperately needs help. But that important work does change the neighborhood, and it will create questions for neighbors. They are questions St. Susan Center officials should answer for neighbors the best they can.