New animal shelter on pace for October completion
Construction of the new Carson City Animal Services shelter at the corner of Airport Road and Butti Way is progressing, said Carson City Public Works Director Darren Shulz, with completion scheduled for early October.
The project will have been about a year in the making. Ground was officiallly broken on October 14, 2015.
The exterior looks complete, but Schulz said there are a lot of smaller details still to be done before the shelter can open for business.
"Although the animal shelter looks nearly complete from the outside there are a lot of little things going on in the inside," he said. "Our completion date is for the first week of October, but we are still hoping we could be done sooner."
Schulz said the contractor is currently working on interior finishes and electrical installation. The outside of the building still needs fencing and landscaping work to be finished.
The brand-new Carson City Animal Services facility will replace the existing 50-year-old structure at the corner of Butti Way and Fairview Drive.
A decision was made to proceed with construction of the new animal services building after the one-eighth percent sales tax levy was passed by the Carson City Board of Supervisors in 2014.
Carson City Public Works has cited multiple structural deficiencies to the existing facility.
Plans for the new animal services facility, which will also house the Carson City chapter of the Nevada Humane Society, have called for nearly 11,000 square feet of space on 1.6 acres of land.
The new space will be substantially larger than the current animal services facility, and able to acommodate as many as 134 dogs, 104 cats and seven exotic pets.
The existing animal services facility currently is only able to accommodate no more than 32 dogs, 33 cats and no room for exotic pets.
In addition to the kennels, the new animal services building will also feature a spay/neuter clinic and areas reserved for adoption play spaces.
The property will also include two large animal corrals featuring 25-foot by 25-foot metal covers to protect animals against the elements.
Construction budget for this project is around $4 million with the building, site improvements and contingencies all included in the budgeted expenditures.
Outside contributions have also helped to curtail some of the cost of building the facility. About $37,000 has come from the New Building Fund, while Carson Animal Services Initiative (CASI) has contributed $200,000 toward construction costs.
CASI is also helping to build and equip an outside play yard for dogs at the new shelter, founder Lisa Schuette said.
Since Carson City's partnership with the Nevada Humane Society (NHS) was forged two years ago, the emphasis on animal control has shifted sharply to greater life-saving efforts and the end-goal of a no-kill community.
The shelter has since actively promoted adoption over euthanasia. The Nevada Humane Society's stated goal is to foster a no-kill community, its web site states.
- Board of Supervisors
- Carson City
- Carson City Board of Supervisors
- Carson City Public Works
- 000
- 2015
- Airport
- Animal Control
- animal shelter
- animals
- Business
- Butti
- carson
- Carson Animal Services Initiative
- Carson City Chapter
- CASI
- cats
- City
- Clinic
- community
- Community
- Community,
- construction
- dogs
- electrical
- Fairview
- Helping
- Humane Society
- landscaping
- local
- Nevada
- Nevada Humane Society
- new
- Nonprofit
- October
- pets
- play
- public
- sales
- sales tax
- Services
- Space
- Supervisors
- tax
- web site
- fencing
- public works