WOODBRIDGE — In the words of Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, At-large, ‘the board is finally going to, at last, take action on the animal shelter.”
And tonight it did, voting 7-1 to spend $14 million to replace the county’s 40-year-old animal shelter on Bristow Road. The new facility that will include everything from new adoption center, 56 doubled-sided kennels for cats and dogs, a full veterinarian space, offices for animal control officers, and a community room for training pets and their owners.
“We are in desperate need of a new shelter. These animals, the shelter staff, the local rescues, and the overall community deserves to be respected and protected. And the level of service that is being provided today. That is not happening,” said Ann Marie Johnson, of Dale City.
“We’ve been talking about budgeting for a new shelter for past three years, but we’ve been talking about a new shelter for 14 years,” said Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe.
Supervisors chose the Option C, the one that was recommended by county staff and by respondents to Stewart’s email survey. It was one of four options Supervisors could choose from ranging between $11 million and $17 million.
Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland was the lone dissenting vote. He objected to the cost, noting that as recent as last year the cost figures for the proposed shelter topped out at $12 million.
The rising cost of construction was given by county public works staff as the reason for the cost increases. They vowed to watch costs to ensure they don’t rise, barring any unforeseen disaster like a hurricane.
“You cannot make these decisions in a vacuum. Every dollar that we spend is one less dollar that we can spend on something else,” said Candland, who said he agreed a new shelter was needed, but he didn’t like the price tag on this project.
The new shelter is slated to open by 2021. Stewart urged county staff to speed up the process of construction so staff and animals can move into the new center quickly.
“We’ve got great staff there, we just need a new facility,” added Stewart.
The current shelter dates back to 1975. The building was donated to the county at the time, according to Nohe.
“The county has changed since then,” he said.
Just this week, after taking in rescue animals from Florida that were in the path of Hurricane Irma, the current shelter ran out of space to house new animals that would be surrounded by their owners. Afterward, shelter officials stopped accepting new animals at the facility.
A police spokesman said the change was temporary.
