Design work on new animal shelter set to begin

By Chris Fortune

City officials cleared another hurdle on the path to building a new animal shelter as it continues to see influxes of animals arrive at its doorstep.

A contribution agreement with the nonprofit group Friends of the Animal Shelter was finalized at the most recent city council meeting last week for a $5 million animal shelter to be built at 3405 S. Belt Highway.

The city will contribute $3.4 million, and the Friends of the Animal Shelter will contribute $1.6 million. Ellison-Auxier Architects was selected for the design work in April.

“Agreeing with Friends of the Shelter on the terms of the contract was really impactful for us because it means that the project will move forward and we’re going to see a new shelter in the next year or two,” Shelter Manager Holly Bowie said.

Certain design features are a required component of the Friends of the Animal Shelter’s $1.6 million contribution. They include a multipurpose room, four indoor meet-and-greet rooms, a food preparation area and outdoor play yards.

“The customers can come in and have a quiet space to get to know the adoptable pets,” she said. “We can go and interact with the customers as well.”

The new 13,000-square-foot shelter will replace the 8,000-square-foot shelter, which has consistently dealt with overcrowding issues over the past two years. This week, the shelter ran a two-day free adoption special after running out of kennel space.

“We had such a tremendous response,” she said. “I mean, almost every available dog in our shelter was adopted over the last few days.”

Stray animals are sometimes seen roaming the streets in St. Joseph, and one resident is thankful for the shelter’s role in the community because it’s difficult for her to see as a pet owner.

“It’s very sad,” Sarah Henderson said. “I mean, some people even drop their dogs off, and knowing that we’ll have a better animal shelter, maybe they’ll go and take them there because it’s not safe on the road.”

The current shelter has 60 kennels, and the new shelter is expected to have between 65 and 75 kennels.

“What’s more important is that they’ll be larger with more space … for the dogs specifically,” Bowie said.

Design work for the new shelter will have to be completed before the city awards a bid for construction on the project, which is likely to begin in 2025.

“The project is kind of just hitting the ground running, and we’re working really hard to get it done as quickly as possible,” Bowie said. “But to do it right is also very important, so building an animal shelter is challenging in many ways.”