New Year, New Shelter Update

Many of you have asked when we will break ground and what our plans are for the new shelter.  Originally, we planned on building our new facility on a parcel of land located on Major Drive.  Unfortunately, during Hurricane Harvey, this parcel and the surrounding area suffered significant flooding.  This raised concern with our Board. As a result, the Board consulted Doug Canant, Chief Engineer for Jefferson County Drainage District No. 6 (DD6) and procured a feasibility study from Fittz & Shipman to determine whether it is prudent to proceed with building on the Major Drive property.  According to Mr. Canant, approximately six years ago DD6 undertook major drainage improvements in the area where the parcel is located and DD6 does not have any future plans for drainage improvement in that area. Any future improvements would be undertaken by the United States Corps of Engineers; however Mr. Canant feels that scenario is unlikely.  Fittz & Shipman determined in their study that we would need to add approximately 9 feet of fill material for the development of the Major Drive site. According to the bid, it would cost approximately $1.2 million to raise just 4 acres.  

Subsequent to the gathering of the above studies and information, the Board approved moving forward with a feasibility study of building on our existing site from Fittz & Shipman as well as the architectural firm of Jackson & Ryan.  According to these studies, our current site is approximately 4.3 acres requiring far less land work, enabling us to focus our entire budget on the construction of the new shelter and the renovation our veterinary clinic. The Board is unanimous in the decision that this is how we should proceed.  Our architects are working on the plans now. We look forward to sharing them with you in the very near future.