County unveils funding plan for new animal shelter
Pet owners and people seeking to adopt pets wait outside the aging TMAC facility.
By Charley Able
Lakewood Edge
GOLDEN – At the aging Table Mountain Animal Shelter one thing is certain: Every animal lodged there will get sick.
The center, plagued with the insufficiency of 33-year-old design, is expected to be replaced by mid-summer of 2010 with a stray-friendly facility more than twice its current size at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
And most of the estimated $9.7 million cost of the building will be paid through dog licensing fees implemented county-wide two years ago.
The current building was designed as a dog pound, fitting the culture of the 1970s when adoption, spaying and neutering and the physical and other needs of the animals were largely ignored. Cats weren’t even an afterthought at the time, said Ben Drotar, spokesman for the shelter.
” It is loud, smelly, and stressful for the animals and the people,” Drotar said of the current building, which he described as little more than “one big bathroom.”
The shelter is cramped with too little space to separate dogs and cats, which increases the stress of being confined in a strange place. It fails to meet current standards for shelters because of what Drotar called its “warehouse” design.
Poor ventilation, overcrowding and stress fuel the rapid spread of upper respiratory diseases, ensuring that every stray that comes through the shelter’s doors become easy prey to airborne viruses and other threats to the animal’s health, Drotar said.
Even the waiting room is insufficient. Young families excited about adopting a new pet wait alongside often-irate owners whose pets have been picked up as strays. In the same room, people forced to put down an aged and beloved pet grieve, tears flowing while folks upset over a lost pet desperately inquire about their missing companions.
“The customer experience is horrible,” Drotar said.
But the cure is costly. The new building could cost almost $10 million. If the economic slowdown continues, it could come in for $1million less, according to estimates.
Either way, funding the project is a challenge.
After a couple of years of examining the shelter’s needs and the cost of replacing it, Jefferson County Commissioners announced their plan earlier this month.
The county will provide $3 million for the project and will lease the Fairgrounds site to the shelter for $1 a year. The county’s cities and towns have decided to forego any revenue from dog license fees, allowing that revenue to be used to retire $5.2 million in Certificates of Participation that will be issued and marketed by the county.
The dog licensing fees are expected to bring in $625,000 this year and, by 2011, are expected to rise to $732,000, said Carla Zananti, Jefferson County’s Animal Control manager.
In addition, the Table Mountain Animal Center Foundation hopes to raise another $1.5 million for the project over the next five years. About $500,000 has been pledged to the foundation.
The new shelter will have a more flexible design, one that separates dogs from cats; one that is airy, more spacious; one more customer friendly; and one that fosters the physical and psychological health of the animals.
The money won’t stretch far enough to provide a “state-of-the-art facility,” but the experience of its designer Steve Jensen, is a nationally recognized animal facilities designer, Drotar said.
Jensen works for Sholar Architecture of Lakewood, which has designed a number of veterinary clinics and animal centers in Colorado, Alaska, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, California, New Mexico, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin.
Sholar’s specialized experience provides the side benefit of years of brainstorming and creative thinking that will extend the new shelter’s adaptability and lifespan, Drotar said.
Construction of the 30,000 square-foot shelter, which will include a 2,000 square-foot surgery center with a spay and neuter clinic, is expected to begin by mid-summer and is expected to take about a year.
