FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals approved a multi-use variance for The Refuge, a proposed immigration center at Thursday's meeting. The immigration center will make use of an old missionary building, located at the corner of South Wayne Ave. and Rudisill Blvd. The property was previously owned by First Missionary Church who hopes it will keep serving the community. Since its proposal, The Refuge has garnered attention from both those in the community and outside it. "There's been a lot of opposition primarily people that do not want refugees or immigrants in the community," said lead pastor at First Missionary Church Jordan Oloomi. He blames this on misinformation saying that there were rumors that the building was being used for illegal immigrants and incorrectly referred to as a Haitian immigrant center. One of the three investors involved in the project, Jeff Bower, told WANE 15 in October that he believes that business partner, Scott Jester's decades of aid work in Haiti is what caused the stir in the first place. "That got out to NextDoor Neighbor website, and somehow leaked onto the WOWO radio. Social media spins disinformation so there was a lot of false assumptions about this project and what it's going to be used for," said Oloomi. Oloomi also believes that misinformation on social media may have been responsible for the Ku Klux Klan pamphlets that were found in Southwood Park in October. The opposition said that the proposed center fails to meet legal standards, and could negatively affect the safe of neighborhoods, increasing traffic and noise at Thursday's public hearing. Board member, Rachel Tobin-Smith said that the eight apartments suggested for the development are considered low-density and would not significantly impact traffic. The building was previously used to house visiting missionaries. "This property has been used in this way since it was founded. Eight apartments of missionaries or international families coming and living temporarily. They'd only be staying three to 12 months. The current owners are a recovery organization, their longest program is 12 months," Jon Gerst, investor for The Refuge, said. Only one member of the Board of Zoning Appeals voted against the project, stating he had a level of uncertainty as to how the commercial use of the project would impact the neighborhood. "Tonight I think the facts prevailed. Beyond that the Board did a great job digging into the support letters, digging into what was actually sent to them beyond these expressions of fear that weren't substantiated in real facts," Gerst said. No official timeline has been decided for The Refuge, but the investors plan to put out bids to different construction companies, with hopes to open in a year.