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New animal shelter design underway
By Senitra Horbrook, Staff Writer
The city of Carrollton has selected Quorum Architects to plan and design a new animal shelter to meet the growing need for more space.
“They seemed to be the best qualified for the design of an animal shelter,” said Andrew Combs, capital improvements manager.
City council authorized the city manager to approve a professional design services agreement with Quorum Architects in an amount not to exceed $271,000 during a July 1 meeting.
“They seemed to have the most experience in local animal shelters,” Combs added, citing shelters the company designed in Mesquite, Rockwall, Farmers Branch and Lewisville.
Proposition 5 of the November 2007 bond election provides funding for the design and construction of a new animal shelter. The city’s current shelter on Nimitz Lane was built in 1986.
“We have experienced some problems with overcrowding,” said Carl Shooter, animal services manager. “The facility built in 1986 has 4,000 square feet of shelter space. At the time, the population was 80,000. As the population has grown, so has the demand for service.”
A feasibility study found that the Carrollton shelter was undersized and that some of the kennel runs were no longer consistent with state requirements.
“What we will accomplish with the new facility is address the space issue, create a more people and animal friendly adoption center environment,” Shooter said. “We hope with the additional space and a different environment, we will encourage people to visit the facility, which will in turn impact the number of animals euthanized each year.”
The shelter recently started working with area rescue groups and does a weekly mailing of animals at risk for euthanasia. The mailing reaches more than 100 different rescue groups each week, which work to find foster homes and adoption families.
“With our new approach, we’ve been able to reduce our euthanasia rate,” Shooter said.
The new animal shelter is expected to be close to 8,000 square feet and will be located on Sandy Lake Road.
“The city already owned that property, so that saved us land acquisition costs,” Combs said. “It is adjacent to other city property n a couple of service centers, athletic facilities. It is well separated from residential areas. Utilities were in place.”
Once the new animal shelter is open, Combs said uses for the current facility will be evaluated.
“We have it within the design contract to evaluate an adaptive use or demolish it and create a parking lot for employee parking,” he said.
The design is expected to be complete by the first of next year. Construction is projected to begin in second quarter of 2009 and end in the second quarter of 2010.
Contact Senitra Horbrook at 972-628-4074 or shorbrook@acnpapers.com. Comment on this story at scntx.com.
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