Local architect hired to design new animal shelter
By Chris Fortune
City officials have taken another step toward giving shelter animals a new and improved home.
The St. Joseph City Council authorized a work order for Ellison-Auxier Architects to handle the design of a new animal shelter to be built at 3405 S. Belt Highway on Monday. For shelter manager Holly Bowie, it has been a long time coming to move out of the current 8,000-square-foot shelter.
“It definitely helps to work with somebody who is familiar with the area,” she said. “I think it’s going to benefit the project.”
Ellison-Auxier Architects will come into the shelter project with experience. They helped design an animal shelter in Nodaway County and, most recently, a veterinary clinic in Atchison, Kansas.
“It’s an exciting project,” project architect Jeff Ellison said. “We’re always happy to be a part of local community projects.”
The new shelter is estimated to be around 13,000 square feet, but they are still early in the design process, and the number could change. It will include spaces to isolate sick animals and protect healthy animals from disease, which the current facility does not have.
“I think that the most beneficial part of the new shelter will be improved animal housing, which will mean more space for the animals so they’re comfortable,” Bowie said. “They can display normal behaviors, and just have a better time while they’re here, and have a more enriched environment.”
But the benefits of a new shelter will extend to its visitors, too. Bowie said she is looking forward to a shelter that is more inviting for the community to interact with the animals in safe spaces.
“We’re hoping to have multiple meet-and-greet rooms where they can visit with potential animals,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll have some nice outside space as well where they can visit with animals.”
The current building at 701 S.W. Lower Lake Road will likely be sold once the new shelter is built. An appraiser assessed the building on Friday morning.
The City of St. Joseph stated its intention in March to dedicate $3.4 million to the construction of the new shelter, with the nonprofit group Friends of the Animal Shelter contributing up to $1.6 million.
News-Press NOW previously reported that both parties were working to establish a contribution agreement.
“What we’re working on right now is finalizing an agreement with Friends of the Animal Shelter because they’re participating in the project as well,” she said. “So once we finalize that agreement, we’ll be moving forward with establishing a design with the architect.
