Fruit Heights church withdraws bid as Code Blue shelter after community outcry

FRUIT HEIGHTS — A church in Davis County announced it will no longer volunteer to be a county Code Blue warming center, saying it caused too much angst and division in the community.

Dozens of Fruit Heights residents packed City Hall Wednesday night, both in the council room and in an overflow room.

Originally, the town hall, of sorts, was meant to explain the details and process behind the State of Utah designating Mountain Road Presbyterian Church as the county’s state-mandated winter emergency shelter.

Under state law, Davis County must identify an indoor space with at least 16 beds for people experiencing homelessness to stay on Code Blue Alert nights — when temperatures are projected to dip under 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many residents who showed up to Wednesday’s meeting expressed deep concern for housing a Code Blue warming center in town.

Contrarily, Mountain Road Rev. Don Krafft took the podium after the meeting began, explaining how they were approached about the Code Blue opportunity, and it felt like a good fit for their philosophy.

“We felt it fit well with our strategic mission use of our building,” he said. “We want our building to be a helpful part of our community.”

However, Krafft said the issue became one of contention and anger.

“We are grieved that the Code Blue warming center has become such a divisive and emotional issue in Fruit Heights,” he said.

After learning more information from law enforcement and others who’ve been hosting warming centers, he said they decided Mountain Road Church is “not equipped for this important mission.”

“We want to apologize to you as a church for any anxiety and fear this has brought into your life and into your family,” Krafft said. “That, of course, would never be our intention.”

The room erupted in applause and gave the pastor a standing ovation over the decision.

‘It is state law’

Immediately after Krafft’s comments, Mayor John Pohlman shared his thoughts. He outlined how the process unfolded from the county and state, clarifying that the city did not make the final Code Blue shelter designation, and that the city did not have the opportunity to petition or veto it.

For the next hour, citizens asked questions and voiced concerns like: How did the state decide the location without the knowledge of the community?

“We’re concerned about homeless people. We want to help,” one woman said. “But what our concern about, is how it happened that no one let us know.”

Another woman asked why Fruit Heights was chosen to “bear that responsibility.”

“Was there no other place in all of Davis County that that was a better fit?” she questioned.

Others brought up fears of increased crime and other negative community impacts if Fruit Heights were home to a Code Blue warming center.

Davis County Commissioner Lorene Kamalu and Utah House Rep. Stewart Barlow R-Davis answered questions, further explaining the process of identifying Code Blue shelters in Davis County.

Kamalu at one point said the county found out about the state’s decision in the last couple of weeks. She said they, “had no idea when the church volunteered, that it would go sideways.”

She also talked about the county’s need to abide by the state’s mandate.

One woman asked what the sanctions would be, “if we decided this wasn’t for Davis County, period?”

“It is state law,” Commissioner Kamalu answered. “As far repercussions, I think that if the county did not cooperate — if we just decided we’re going to ignore the people in our own county who are right now unhoused — then they, the State, would come in and take it all the way over.”

‘More problem than good’

With Mountain Road Church’s withdrawal, Davis County still needs a Code Blue shelter with 16 beds.

“There are a couple other good options that will probably become our options now,” Kamalu explained to the room. She said it’s likely that the next choice will be an old emissions center in Kaysville, or perhaps the Clearfield Senior Center.

Toward the end of the meeting, a couple of residents spoke up to say they supported the warming center.

One man said he was disappointed in his community.

“I hope that half that enthusiasm is mustered by our community to really help people, as it has been to shut down a program that would provide 16 beds on maybe 20 nights a year, to not freeze to death,” he expressed.

The meeting ended, and afterward, Pohlman reiterated Krafft’s decision.

“What the pastor said is … as a pastor he was trying to provide a service and do good, but in the end, it was creating more of a problem than it was doing good,” Pohlman said.

Touching on the concerns he heard from citizens ahead of the meeting, he said people were worried about safety and feared the unknown. They didn’t know how Code Blue would be rolled out or fulfilled.

“We can’t require people to serve in a way that they don’t feel comfortable,” the mayor said. “And we as people, as residents not just of the city, but of the state, we need to help each other feel comfortable and unify behind a good cause.”

He expressed hearing Wednesday night that, “everyone is willing and wants to help.”

“We want to be part of the solution, we just don’t know how,” Pohlman said. “I think the state, and the county, and all people in the state need to find ways to help out. And so, receiving direction and receiving leadership from state leaders is the best way to find ways to create solutions, and be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.”