The Carrboro Board of Aldermen approved a text amendment Tuesday night that allows the Inter-Faith Council to apply to open a community kitchen in downtown Carrboro.

The meeting was held in the Carrboro Elementary School Auditorium and was almost full to capacity.

Dozens of individuals shared their opinions, including Robert Seymour, an honorary lifetime board member of the IFC. As he banged his cane, Seymour urged for approval to bring the community kitchen to 110 West Main Street in Carrboro, where the IFC already operates its food pantry as well as their administrative and community service offices.

“It’s going to be very hard if we are asked to have two locations, one for the pantry and one for the kitchen,” said Seymour. “Let’s be good stewards of our resources and find a place where we can be together under the same roof.”

The board voted to add the words “social service provider with dining” to the land use ordinance.

Now the IFC is able to apply for a conditional use permit to add a community kitchen to their facility in Carrboro. That process involves staff review, town advisory board input and more public hearings that could take up to a year.

While the decision Tuesday night was simply about adding language to an ordinance, it certainly divided opinions.

Some Carrboro business owners had voiced concerns over the kitchen, which Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said had sparked a negative backlash.

“I’ve been hearing today and throughout the week that people that have opposed this use or have concerns about this use, have been threatened with boycotts,” said Gist.

Gist eventually went on to say that this was one of the most difficult decisions the Board of Aldermen had faced since she began serving in 1989.

President of the IFC Board, Keith Taylor, strongly discouraged against any boycott of Carrboro businesses.

The Inter-Faith Council currently operates their community kitchen at 100 Rosemary Street, which was also the location for their men’s shelter until last fall when the IFC opened a new transitional housing facility on Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.

Some voiced concern that offering a community kitchen in Carrboro but no shelter could leave people with no where to go.

The IFC has also considered other locations, including a facility at the Lincoln Center Campus but IFC director Michael Reinke said 110 West Main Street allowed them to reach the most people in need.

Alderman Sammy Slade was concerned over language in the amendment that would require a security system for community kitchens, noting that it was not required for any other restaurants or bars in the area, possibly suggesting patrons of a community kitchen needed more security. This requirement was removed from the final amendment.

The IFC first appealed for the text amendment for the community kitchen in May of last year and has since gone through multiple public hearings.

“The truth to the reality of requiring this degree of approval for an entity that is giving food out for free, something that we don’t do for other places that give food for a charge,” said Slade.

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