The first community meeting on a shelter for homeless veterans in Newark was a flop.

Independence: A Family of Services Inc. (IFS) of Irvington tried to explain its proposal in September, but the agency's president cut the meeting short when residents became upset after expressing concern about the facility to house 40 veterans in the East Ward.

The multiservice agency tried again last week, holding the gathering inside the three-story building that will house the shelter on Van Buren and Elm streets. IFS didn't cancel the meeting this time, but the nonprofit group still failed to win the support of residents leery about the agency's ability to implement the plan.

"You're either going to believe me or not," said Margaret Woods, president of the agency. "I don't spend my life lying to people.''

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Michael Pimentel, owner of a flower shop near the shelter, is among the nonbelievers. While admitting that the project for veterans is worthy, he is not confident IFS can do the job in a building that he believes is not big enough.

"There are too many large question marks," he said. "I'm not against the concept, but they're living in a fantasy land if they think it's going to work there.''

Under zoning laws, the building would be permitted to house the shelter. However, it needs the Central Planning Board to approve several variances for the project to work.

For instance, the distance between the front, side and rear of the building and the street line is not sufficient. Also, the area, according to a planning board staff report, does not provide enough parking.

But a study by the engineering firm Stonefield Engineering & Design of Rutherford, hired by IFS, concluded that there is ample parking. Residents were in disbelief, and laughing, when Woods presented the survey's results.

"Anyone who lives here knows that's not true,'' said John Goldstein, an Ironbound resident who supports the project because he understands that veterans need housing.

Lost in the conversation, though, are the voices of veterans who do not want residents to fear them.

Cheryl Turner, a veteran, said she was once homeless. She's stable now, but from 2008 to 2102, she lived in her car after losing her home in which she cared for veterans. Unable to keep up with mortgage payments, Turner said, she had to give up her home after a short sale.

"What the people have to understand is this: All veterans just want a place to call home. If we need help, we need help,'' said Turner, who is the district commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for Essex County.

But Turner was too proud to ask for help even as she maintained leadership positions in veteran organizations. She was the first female commander of American Legion Post 251 in Montclair and the state vice commander of the legion in New Jersey.

Turner said veterans will be closer to home by having a facility in Newark. There are similar shelters in Flemington and Vineland, but many local vets won't go because of the distance.

"A lot of them go couch to couch, sleep under bridges or they go to Penn Station,'' Turner said.

Residents, meanwhile, continue to say they are not against veterans, but that the location is inappropriate because it's near a preschool and East Side High School and that they are concerned about veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

At the meeting, residents asked several questions: How will the program be funded? Will veterans be the only residents? What happens if anticipated grant funding doesn'tcome through?

Woods said the commitment is to veterans. They will live in the building on a temporary basis until they move into permanent housing. While there, she said, veterans will receive mental health and counseling services, life skills training and be taken to the Veterans Affairs hospital in East Orange for other services. There also will be cultural and recreational programs, and a rooftop garden to augment common areas on each floor.

She could not, however, guarantee what happens in the future. As for funding, Woods said her agency is seeking grant money, but added that she would not open the facility if she couldn't receive funding.

Resident Manuel Lima is having a hard time with the project, from uncertainty about funding to whether IFS has the credentials to run the program.

"I want to make sure they are capable of offering what they say they are going to offer,'' Lima said. "Do they have the means?"

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Woods said her team has experience working with homeless veterans, and it has looked at best practices in the field to ensure veterans will receive quality care.

After 90 minutes, residents said they think it's a done deal, even though it's not. Plus, they were not pleased by what they believe was a lack of notification for this meeting, even though IFS said residents within 200 feet of the project were sent certified mail. Some said they were not notified, including Pimentel's mother, who lives next door.

The planning board will hold a final meeting on the project Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at Newark City Hall.

Arguments for and against the shelter will be heard, after which the board will make a decision.

No doubt, there won't be a problem with the turnout on both sides of the aisle.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL