A program that helps homeless men will be permitted at Rock Solid Ministries after a Richmond Board of Zoning Appeals decision Feb. 11.
Belcher House will be a 14-bed homeless shelter on the second floor of Rock Solid Ministries’ location at 1024 E. Main St. Participants in the Next Step program will get jobs, save money and prepare to find housing, said David Eales, the pastor at Rock Solid Ministries. Women and children’s shelter Refuge of Hope has used the Next Step program to help 110 women find housing, Eales said.
The shelter needed a variance of use because Rock Solid is zoned general commercial. The variance was approved 3-2, with members Rob Tidrow, Sharry Oler Hemingway and Nathan Sheets voting in favor and members Josh Imhoff and Jeff Cook voting against.
Mike Schaney, owner of All American Pawn and Roxxy’s on 11th Street near Rock Solid, was one of three people speaking against the variance. They noted existing problems, such as screaming and cursing, with people using Rock Solid’s current services. Schaney claimed business has declined because of those behaviors that have caused problems for his employees and customers.
“I have great empathy for people that need help, but not in a business district,” Schaney said. “It turns people off; they’re going to go someplace else.”
Eales said members of the Next Step program would not be outside in the neighborhood.
Culver’s sign
The board unanimously granted a variance of development standards and permitted a Culver’s restaurant to erect a 30-foot pole sign at 2110 Chester Blvd.
The sign would be 114.14 square feet, including a 50-square-foot electronic message sign. Lauren Obendorf of Green Sign Company in Greensburg said the sign’s height and size provide necessary visibility in the busy Chester Boulevard corridor that enables motorists to decide and safely turn into the restaurant.
Bob Goins of K&J Investments in Noblesville said construction of the restaurant should begin within 30 days. Construction generally takes about four months, Goins said.
The location south of CVS will be the second Culver’s in Richmond. The Wisconsin-based chain opened its first Richmond restaurant at 401 Commerce Road on Feb. 24, 2020.
6Main sign
Flaherty & Collins, the developers of the 6Main apartment complex at 601 E. Main St., are requesting three variances of development standards for the placement and size of their sign.
The vertical, projecting sign will be 48.75 square feet. With the variances, its placement will align with a stairwell, providing the structural strength to support the sign and keeping it from projecting light into living units, said Sara Al-Droubi.
Because Flaherty & Collins discovered it needed a third variance, the issue was not properly advertised for public hearing; therefore, the public hearing and board action were delayed until the BZA’s March meeting.
A version of this article appeared in the February 18 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.