First Congregational Church of Palo Alto got the green light Monday to launch a "safe parking" program for unhoused individuals after the City Council rejected an appeal from the church's neighbors.

The council voted 5-2, with Vice Mayor Lydia Kou and Council member Greg Tanaka dissenting, to reaffirm the decision by the Department of Planning and Community Environment to approve the program. That decision was appealed by a group of neighbors, some of whom attended the meeting and argued that the program would represent a safety hazard for the area around the church.

"I don't think it's safe for our children to bring people on that haven't been appropriately checked," said Randy Stolenberg, who lives near the church.

But most of the nearly 20 residents who addressed the council urged members to approve the program without further delay. Many pushed back against suggestions from appellants that unhoused individuals are more prone to crime than other residents.

"Housing is a human right and, and while this effort doesn't provide true housing, because we still can do better on that, it's a start and the bare minimum of what we can do to protect and secure the right to dignity for everyone in our community," said Anna Toledano, a city resident who is pursuing a doctorate at Stanford University. "Just because someone lives in a vehicle doesn't mean that they're evil or a danger. In fact, vehicle dwellers are in significant danger of being victims of crimes themselves."

With the council's blessing, First Congregational Church will be able to roll out the program on a small parking lot that fronts Embarcadero Road. Participants will be allowed to park there between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. and will receive case management from Move Mountain View, a nonprofit that runs similar programs in Mountain View and at two other Palo Alto lots.

Todor Ganev, who lives near the church and who filed the appeal, pushed back against the characterization by some speakers that he and other critics of the program are "NIMBYs" who don't care about the homeless. Ganev, who lives on Embarcadero, argued in the appeal that the parking spots should be moved to the church's main lot along Louis Road.

"We want to work together," Ganev said Monday. "We want to make sure we have a reasonable compromise and an acceptable solution. Unfortunately, this was not happening and our concerns were all but ignored."

Church officials had told the Weekly that they felt the back lot was more appropriate because it provides a quieter and more secluded space for program participants. The church also plans to install a portable bathroom next to the parking spaces.

The Rev. Eileen Altman, associate pastor at the church, said the church held numerous meetings with neighbors and made numerous compromises before it submitted its application. She urged the council to keep the appeal on its "consent calendar," a list of items that get approved by a single vote and with minimal discussion.

"We are convinced along with city staff that where we have landed is the best place for housing safe parking and we encourage you to approve it as part of your consent agenda this evening," Altman said.

Ganev and other opponents asked the council to pull the appeal off consent and schedule a full public hearing on the church's application. But because that action requires three votes, Kou and Tanaka fell one vote shy of keeping the appeal alive.

"For something that has this much passion, this much interest, there should have been more discussion on it," Tanaka said, explaining his vote.

Kou, who co-authored the memo that led to the establishment of safe parking programs, said she was disappointed by the acrimony that the program has engendered and lamented the fact that the city couldn't come up with a regulatory framework for the church's program that would have satisfied all parties.

"There's a lot of nasty things tonight that's been said and it's unfortunate that it's so divisive and putting one (neighbor) against the other when we're all trying to do the right thing," Kou said.