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Animal-services director urges $20 million shelter as current facility floods and nears capacity
Summary
Animal‑services leadership described the existing shelter as a repurposed garage that floods, lacks appropriate surfaces and kennels, and is operating beyond capacity; staff said a new $20 million facility near the proposed rec center site would be required to avoid intake closures or euthanasia for space.
At a bond advisory meeting, Rhonda McClendon, who leads the city’s animal services, told the committee the existing shelter is a converted fleet garage that floods during heavy rains, does not meet modern animal‑holding standards and routinely pushes staff to manage capacity with limited options.
"We have not euthanized for space in 14 years. We're critically close," McClendon said, describing recurring flooding, inadequate kennel sizes and indoor surfaces that are not impermeable to moisture — a condition that, staff said, risks disease transmission and would require extended closure for remediation.
City staff presented a proposal to demolish and replace the shelter with a purpose‑built facility on city property near the new recreation center site. The $20 million estimate is presented as a ground‑up replacement to provide larger kennels, modern surfaces, public viewing and adoption areas, and improved operational flow.
Committee members asked about prior ballot history: staff recalled a 2015 shelter-plus-police-substation proposition narrowly failed and cautioned that public siting and outreach remain sensitive. Members also asked whether the Emanuel site (existing rec center location) could be remodeled; staff said retrofitting the existing rec center would be difficult and likely more costly and that a ground‑up rebuild on the rec-site parcel is the preferred approach.
Officials said the shelter’s deficiencies also create operational risk today: impermeable surfaces are required to wash animal areas effectively, and replacing those surfaces in the current building would obligate substantial temporary closures of intake. Staff described policies implemented to reduce intake pressure — appointment requirements, higher surrender fees in some cases, shorter stray holds — but said these measures only partially reduced demand.
No binding decision was made. The committee scored projects in an anonymous exercise and staff said they will bring fiscal detail and prioritization recommendations to the next meeting; council will decide which, if any, propositions go on the ballot. The animal-shelter proposal will be one of several facility and park asks staff asks the committee to prioritize.
