The Dream Center is one step closer to moving from 1970 N. Highland Ave., to a new 30,000-square-foot facility on Oil Well Road, after members of the Jackson City Council voted 5-3 in favor of the non-profit, Tuesday.
“The whole city won, and I’m overjoyed,” said Gail Gustafson, executive director of the Dream Center. “We’re one step closer to being in a permanent facility, and the contractor said we may be in within the year … we hope by Thanksgiving, because God can do anything.”
The building that housed the Dream Center was sold in August 2016, forcing the non-profit to leave 49 Old Hickory Blvd., for a temporary location on North Highland Avenue, December 1, 2016.
Northside Assembly of God, 27 Oil Well Road, is donating the property for construction of the Dream Center, which offers free housing for women and their children who have experienced crisis in their lives, including a loss of employment, housing, or other life controlling problems that rendered them homeless.
Proponents and opponents voiced their thoughts after an invitation for public comment was extended when the Jackson City Council met at City Hall.
Residents of Belle Trace Cove, which sits just west of where the new Dream Center would be built, expressed concern over the possibility of a decline in property values, an increase in traffic, and flooding from the Moize Creek, located behind residents on the east side of their cove.
Council members Ernest Brooks II, Scott Conger, Johnny Lee Dodd, Vicky Foote and Randy Wallace voted for the proposal and Pepper Bray, Harvey Buchanan and David Cisco voted against the measure.
Councilman Charles Rahm was unable to be present at the meeting.
“The council received some passionate testimony on today’s proposed rezoning of the Dream Center,” Jerry Gist, mayor of Jackson said. “It was a tough decision, but the council did a good job assessing both sides of the testimonials and the comments that were made, so it looks like we will be moving forward.”
If you would like to donate to the Dream Center’s Capital Campaign, call Gail Gustafson (731)613-0741 or visit www.dreamcenterjackson.com
(PHOTO: Gail Gustafson, left, the executive director of the Dream Center, is pictured with Dream Center volunteers and supporters Norwood Jones and Jill Taylor at City Hall, Tuesday)
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