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Committee moves Animal Care & Control capital‑plan amendment forward to full Board with positive recommendation
Summary
Supervisors voted without objection to send a resolution to amend the 10‑year capital plan so the Animal Care & Control replacement shelter can be financed through certificates of participation; city staff cited seismic vulnerability and operational risks at the current 1931-era facility.
The Budget & Finance Committee on March 9 voted to forward to the full Board of Supervisors a resolution amending the city's 10‑year capital expenditure plan to provide financing for a new Animal Care & Control (ACC) shelter through certificates of participation (COPs). The motion, sponsored by Supervisor Katie Tang, was taken without objection and will go before the full Board with a positive recommendation.
Supervisor Tang said the ACC facility had been left out of two prior bond measures and that moving the project into the COP program provides an alternate financing path. Heather Green of the capital planning program summarized the amendment: it moves ACC into the COP financing program, requires that appropriation of funds come before the board in April, and places funds on the controller's reserve until the COP financing is secured. Green's slides also showed a $49,000,000 addition to the COP program in the capital plan to create financing capacity in 2017.
Virginia Donahue, ACC director, described the shelter’s operational problems: the building was constructed in 1931 and converted into a shelter in 1988; it is seismically vulnerable, lacks adequate emergency water and access for emergency vehicles, provides insufficient isolation/ventilation leading to prolonged disease outbreaks (ringworm, canine cough), and does not meet the city's emergency planning requirement to operate independently for 72 hours. Donahue said staff and partners are planning for replacement construction and that the capital plan amendment is intended to secure financing and move the project forward.
Representatives from local animal‑welfare groups (SF Dawg, Muttville Senior Dog Rescue), pet‑business owners and a retired police unit official spoke in support of a new shelter, praised ACC staff and stressed the urgent need for a seismically safe, modern facility.
The committee approved sending the amendment to the full Board with a positive recommendation; the clerk recorded the vote as passing without objection with one supervisor absent. The Board is scheduled to consider appropriations in April and funds will remain on controller reserve pending final COP financing arrangements.
