Hollister
– Plans for a new animal shelter took another step forward this
week as the Hollister City Council approved a $1.5 million
redevelopment grant for construction.
Hollister – Plans for a new animal shelter took another step forward this week as the Hollister City Council approved a $1.5 million redevelopment grant for construction.
Animal Control supervisor Julie Carreiro has said the new shelter will provide a warmer, cleaner space for animals, as well as create more space for animal control workers and shelter visitors.
But Carreiro said Tuesday that she won’t be doing much celebrating because the city’s budget deficit has brought major staffing cuts to the animal control department.
“We’ve been so busy, I don’t even know everything that’s been happening (with the new shelter),” she said.
The $1.5 million grant approved Monday comes from the city’s redevelopment agency funds. Community Services Director Bill Avera said staff members will present the council with detailed project plans at a future meeting. Construction should be finished in December 2007 or January 2008, city engineer Luis Aguilar said.
The existing 1,400-square-foot animal shelter, at the end of South Street near the industrial wastewater treatment plant, houses stray and lost animals found in both Hollister and San Benito County – up to 3,500 per year.
Plans for the new shelter call for a 7,611-square-foot metal building next to Hollister’s public works yard slightly east of the old location.
Not everyone is happy about the plans. Alex Garcia, who lives near the shelter, said barking dogs and wandering animals have become a serious problem.
“I did not realize we would have this problem when we bought our home seven years ago,” Garcia said. “I thought they were going to move it and build next to the police department where it should be.”
Mayor Brad Pike has said the police department would have been an ideal location but the public works yard was more feasible. Building the new shelter near the old location will cut down on confusion, he added.
Hollister first considered a location next to the police department and even purchased an existing building, but officials scrapped those plans due to rising costs.
Garcia acknowledged that the plans do feature some improvements, including a retaining wall and a lockable drop box for animals.
“But this is still not acceptable,” he said. “An animal shelter should not be in a residential area.”
