New animal shelter moving forward on South Belt
By Chris Fortune
Efforts to build a new animal shelter have been renewed.
The City of St. Joseph and the nonprofit group Friends of the Animal Shelter of St. Joseph will move forward with a plan to build a new animal shelter at 3405 S. Belt Highway. It will replace the current shelter at 701 S.W. Lower Lake Road, which has been open for over 45 years.
The city previously announced a plan to dedicate $3.4 million toward a hybrid renovation and new construction project at the South Belt location, according to a City of St. Joseph press release. Friends of the Animal Shelter recently announced a contribution of up to $1.6 million toward the development.
Both parties are working through the contribution terms, which include improved facilities for shelter staff and visitors and better conditions for shelter animals.
“The building will have more space for animals, and will just offer better facilities for animal welfare,” City Manager Bryan Carter said. “It’ll be a little bit larger. It will have a few new amenities, but the focus will really be on that improved animal welfare piece.”
The current shelter is near capacity, and one lifelong St. Joseph resident helped relieve some of the crowding on Wednesday by adopting a dog. He said a new shelter would help animals on the street who need a place to go.
“Just more space for the dogs, cats, all the animals that are coming in from the community that don’t have nothing,” Tanner Conroy said. “They do a great job at rehabilitating them and getting ready to go back to their new owner. So, you know, I’m all for it.”
One of the first steps to accomplish and get the wheels turning on the project is to finalize the contribution agreement between the city and Friends of the Animal Shelter.
“The second piece will be getting a design firm under contract to begin the design work,” Carter said. “We’ve had those preliminary conversations already, but we do need that contract finalized so they can begin their work in earnest and start getting better plans developed so we can talk about exactly what that facility will look like when it’s done.”
