The effort to bring a homeless shelter for women and children to Washington cleared a hurdle Monday.

That’s when the Washington’s City Council voted unanimously to amend the city’s zoning ordinance to allow such shelters as a special use in two residential zoning districts (R-6S and R-9S) and in the office and institutional zoning district. The city’s Board of Adjustment would decide whether to issue a special-use permit and set specific conditions for the entity receiving the permit to meet.

If someone sought a special-use permit for a homeless shelter for women and children, adjacent property owners would be notified so they could appear at the Board of Adjustment meeting to comment on the permit request, according to John Rodman, the city’s director of community and cultural resources

The Open Door Community Center, a community coalition, has plans to open a shelter for homeless women and children.

At the council’s Feb. 13 meeting, Dot Moate, speaking for Open Door Community Center, which received its nonprofit status last month from the N.C. Secretary of State Department, asked for a one-time startup contribution of $10,000 from the city. The council took no action on the request, indicating it would consider it during its budget work sessions in the coming weeks.

Susan Zachary, a board of directors member of the nonprofit group, told the council it’s time for a shelter for homeless women and children in Washington. “We are a small town with a big heart. We need a shelter where we will not only provide a bed for them and other resources, but we will provide dignity and respect and common, yes, common, courtesy. … We need to take a big step in doing what God has been telling us to do for many years,” she said.

Moate also made a plea for the amendment to be approved. “We can assure you that whatever property we select, we will inform the neighbors, go out and talk to them and tell them what we are going to do before we actually make the move,” she said Monday.

“What we plan on doing is purchasing or renting, preferably purchasing, a piece of property as a facility that we can modify according to what the state rules are and what the building inspectors are going to require us to have,” Moate said last month. “We are looking at several pieces of property. We haven’t selected anything in particular yet.” She did not identify the pieces of property under consideration for purchase.