Harleigh Inn Purchase Gets No Supporters at North Canton City Council Meeting

If there’s a resident in North Canton who supports ICAN Housing Solution’s plan to purchase the Harleigh Inn, he wasn’t at the City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Council members and ICAN’s executive director heard from resident after resident who opposed the plan to turn North Canton’s only hotel into low-income apartments when they came together in the North Canton Civic Center that night. About 70 people showed.

ICAN Executive Director Maryellen Cameron began the meeting by addressing some concerns she had read about in the media and told everyone she was “taken aback” by those comments. The apartment building, which would also house veterans, would not be considered transitional housing, she said.

“We want to create permanent housing where people move in and live there hopefully as long as they need to, as long as they’re following the terms of the lease ...” Cameron said. “We want people to settle into the community and become good neighbors.”

ICAN, an agency that helps people with psychiatric disabilities obtain housing, has 22 properties. The Harleigh Inn would be its biggest property, with 17 efficiency and eight one-bedroom apartments.

Many were reluctant to welcome those with mental illnesses into their back yard and questioned what would make ICAN different from a general landlord and what restrictions it would place on its tenants. Cameron said ICAN would do no drug testing, nor would it set a curfew. The only difference between ICAN and any other landlord would be the addition of a service coordinator who would not reside in the building, but be there about 15 hours a week.

Several residents, including Councilman Pat DeOrio, said the idea of an apartment building catering to veterans was unrealistic because ICAN cannot dictate who can live there. Tenants would be taken on a first-come, first-served basis, and veterans would end up taking a back seat to others, he said.

“I think that’s just a marketing niche that you’re trying to do,” DeOrio said. “But you’re basically just going to take anyone who has a pulse, and the people who are really going to suffer is the veteran with (post-traumatic stress disorder) who can’t get help.”

Cameron said ICAN can’t guarantee only veterans will live there, but that’s who they are catering the building to.

She said ICAN takes into account a person’s criminal and drug history when granting residency, but there’s no set criteria in place that would stop her from considering someone for residency. She said if someone were charged with a crime, she would consider how long ago the crime took place and how much of a support system that person now has before allowing him to live in the apartment building.

Councilwoman Marcia Kiesling said there aren’t many services in North Canton to help veterans, and she questioned why ICAN chose the Harleigh Inn building.

Cameron said ICAN chose North Canton because it’s a good community and the Harleigh Inn because the building would suit the needs of its occupants.

But Council President Daryl Revoldt said the plan will hit some roadblocks when it gets to the Zoning Board, and when that is is still undetermined. He said one acre of land can legally have 12 apartment units, but ICAN wants to create 25 units in just a half acre.

Council said it will discuss the Harleigh Inn issue further during an upcoming council meeting, likely in a couple weeks.