AKRON, Ohio - Akron City Council approved a resolution Monday that outlines ways it plans to relocate people living in a controversial tent encampment in the Middlebury neighborhood and support the city's other homeless residents.

At the same meeting, City Council voted 8-4 to reject legislation that would have granted a zoning change that would have made the encampment, dubbed Second Chance Village, a legal campground.

No date has been set for the residents to vacate Second Chance Village, as the city has not taken any enforcement action.

Voting in favor of granting the conditional-use zoning were Council members Zack Milkovich, Ward 10 Russel Neal Jr., Ward 4; Tara Samples, Ward 5; and Bruce Kilby, Ward 2. At-large Councilwoman Linda Omobien was absent.

Jeff Rowes, an attorney for the activist group Institute for Justice, said before Monday's vote that his group would sue on behalf of Second Chance Village if the zoning change was rejected.

"That doesn't mean we'll stop talking to the city to reach a resolution," he said.

Second Chance has provided shelter to about 50 homeless residents in tents since early 2017. Sage Lewis, who owns the property where the tents are situated, applied to the city in April for the conditional use zoning, asking the city to consider the encampment a "campground, tent community."

In July, the Akron Planning Commission voted to deny the conditional use, concluding that a campground is not an appropriate use of the land.

According to Rowes, Lewis wants to keep the encampment open to provide interim housing for people while they are being transitioned into permanent housing in facilities he wants to establish around the city.

However, the local Continuum of Care, which includes about 20 Summit County agencies, has said it already has enough beds for all the residents living at Second Chance Village. COC member agencies include the Battered Women's Shelter, Haven of Rest, United Way of Summit County, H.M Life, ACCESS Inc., Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority and many others.

Annually, Summit County is awarded about $8 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and HOME Investment Partnership and Emergency Solutions Block Grants to combat homelessness. The money is disbursed through the COC agencies.

The city worked with the COC to develop its action plan to:

continue to work with the homeless encampment to establish indoor housing.

continue discussions with the encampment to create a memorandum of understanding.

convene Continuum of Care leadership within seven days to create a housing team, including someone from the encampment, to work with Second Chance residents as they transition to new dwellings.

create a verified list of everyone who will be transitioned to new housing.

discuss and identify the various housing options, including permanent beds, transitional beds and rapid re-housing vouchers.

meet with all Second Chance residents to determine housing needs, assist in getting necessary documentation together, assess supportive service needs and provide residents with choices.

provide the city with weekly reports on each resident.

address the needs of homeless people at other locations around Akron.

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