Church scraps halfway house project

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A local pastor said his church is backing away from its support of a proposed halfway house, but said that doesn't mean the project won't happen.

Pastor Glenn Barnhill of Solid Rock Ministries said the church had planned to spearhead a Halfway House on Tanner Williams Road, but he didn't expect overwhelming opposition from the community.

Renovation work was at a standstill Monday at the apartment building that was the planned site of the house. Paula Walker and her family members were the last to move out of the building. Walker said they would be out by the end of the day.

"Last month Brother Barnhill and all of them told us that everybody would have to vacate the building because of the fact of them bringing prisoners in," Walker said.

She said everyone was caught off guard when they learned they had to leave to make way for prison inmates.

The project has dealt with opposition from the start. Pastor Glenn Barnhill said more than 300 people turned out at a public meeting on Friday to protest the project. He said the church was going to be a part of it initially, but now will not because "the community has decided they don't want a facility of this nature" in the area.

"As far as us pushing to open this facility we're going to probably as a church back away,"  Barnhill said.

Once the last family moves out, the building will be vacant. But there's no guarantee the next tenants to move in won't be prison inmates. Barnhill said the owner of the property could still move forward with the halfway house project as a private business.

"If a businessperson opens the facility and it's in our backyard, we're going gonna do our best to minister in the community..." the pastor said, "Whoever comes into it."

People in the area aren't so supportive and are already working to make sure that doesn't happen.

"The next move would be to file an injunction and get it before a judge," Mark Breed said.

Breed, who lives in the area, said he had contacted a lawyer to file the necessary papers.

Breed said safety is a major concern for the community, and he believes the church should have let people know what was planned a lot sooner.

"I think it would have been a lot better if they would have come to us, because some good could have come out of it, but you can't do this with the community not behind it. It's more than just he church you have to have everybody involved in it," he said.

The Pastor said the prisoners who would qualify for the halfway house will get out of prison whether the facility opens or not. Those who oppose the project said they just want to make sure the former inmates aren't headed to their community.