Syracuse officials seek $500,000 to study new dog shelter at White Oaks Park campus

Syracuse City parks officials and council members discussed plans to build a larger municipal dog shelter on the White Oaks Park campus and asked the City Council to consider a $500,000 bonding request to fund site studies and design work, officials said.

The effort aims to bring Syracuse into compliance with state requirements for municipal sheltering (referred to in the meeting as “Article 7”) and to expand the city’s capacity to handle a growing stray-dog problem. Parks Chair Rashida Caldwell said the department has hunted for suitable properties for four years and is proposing redeveloping the White Oaks Park “campus” on Spencer Street so a shelter would be co-located with a visitor/welcome center and trail access.

Parks project manager Josh Wilcox said preliminary cost metrics place construction at roughly $300 to $350 per square foot based on examples from other municipalities; the department had considered a roughly 10,000-square-foot building but has scaled that back and is planning for an initial facility sized for about 40 to 60 kennels. Wilcox said site and design work, including geotechnical testing, will determine final scope and cost and estimated site‑investigation and design work could run from about $20,000 up to $200,000 depending on scope. He added that a small municipal shelter built in Jamesville cost about $350,000–$375,000 for a 16-kennel unit and that a larger build could be “anywhere from $2,500,000 on down,” according to his remarks.

Stephanie Heath, a consultant who said she works with municipal and nonprofit shelters, told the group that facility components are standard — “kennels, community space, offices, [a] medical suite” — and stressed program elements such as adoption, foster and vocational partnerships that can reduce kennel demand. “We’re not reinventing any wheel on that part,” Heath said, and noted the city could pursue state capital funds allocated this year for shelters once the municipal project is under way.

Officials discussed several site options on the White Oaks campus. Parks staff reported the campus totals about nine acres, with the back parking lot roughly 0.58 acres and a Spencer Street green-space site of about 0.44 acres; staff said reconfiguring parking and adjacent surfaces could create more usable area. Council members and commissioners expressed concern about siting the shelter on high-value parkland near expected redevelopment, including the nearby Progress Park area and the Empire Trail, and sought assurances the facility would be designed to be attractive and integrated into park programming rather than a purely utilitarian structure.

Matt OJ, Commissioner of Assessment, described prior searches for private properties (including a former automotive facility on Erie Boulevard West) and said contamination and acquisition costs made those sites impractical. AJ, the city architect for Parks, said legislation has changed and that the city must act rather than wait on longer-term redevelopment: “We have to adapt to that. We can’t wait on the shelter to see if there’s a restaurant or a parking garage or anything like that. We need to move forward, unfortunately.” AJ also pledged design oversight to ensure the building “looks like something that belongs in a city that serves the public.”

Staff and councilors discussed current shelter capacity and operations. Parks staff reported the city’s partner facility (Second Chance) provides about 10 kennel spaces with runs at the municipal contract location; the city also pays for contracted overflow shelter capacity at a separate “bunkhouse” run by Maria Cassella that can house roughly 30–35 animals. Officials said the partner organization receives adoption fees while the city collects licensing fees.

Speakers emphasized the project should include programming — humane education, vocational training, volunteer opportunities and adoption services — to speed placements and reduce long-term kennel stays. Heath said national adoption rates have fallen since the pandemic and that municipal shelters are experiencing slower turnover, which contributes to visible stray animals in the community.

No formal vote or budget authorization was recorded during the discussion. Councilors asked Parks staff to prepare a comprehensive plan and to circulate site maps showing the Spencer Street and Kirkpatrick Street options; staff said they would return with more detailed site-investigation proposals and budgets. Heath said she would email a concise presentation on the new state standards cited as “Article 7.”

Council Chair Rashida Caldwell closed the meeting by thanking participants and saying the group will hold follow-up meetings to continue planning; there was no formal approval of bonding or a final site choice during this session.