The Planning and Zoning Commission has approved the next step in making a physical location for the St. Frances Animal Rescue facility a reality.
Last Thursday, the commission voted to grant a conditional-use permit for the nonprofit organization to put a building on Lot 4, Block 66 in the north portion of an industrial lot on Fifth Avenue, just off Bennett Street.
The approval is the latest development in the shelter's ongoing process to have a fixed location since it was created in 2006 and operated out of a home at 3.5 Mile Zimovia Highway. Later, it became a foster operation, where volunteers take in animals to care for them until a permanent home is found for the pet.
"We have many people who want to help, but we have no physical place to house the animals so that they can come and see them and help care for them, feed them and get to know them," shelter volunteer Diane O'Brien told the commission before the vote.
O'Brien's family has adopted three cats from the shelter over the past few years, turning them "into a bunch of cat lovers."
St. Frances board president Joan Sargent called into the meeting since she was in the Portland area to price out modular units for an animal shelter. The proposed shelter would more than likely be a one of these units, from 400 to 600 square feet in size, approximately 12- to 15-feet wide and 35- to 40-feet long, according to specifications the nonprofit submitted to the borough.
The shelter would share the 16,500-square-foot lot with the borough's vehicle impound yard, which would have a separate access gate. Economic Development Director Kate Thomas said those plans are still under discussion.
"The impound lot will either be shared on the backside of the proposed lot for St. Frances or extended into lot 12, which is the adjacent lot to the east-northeast," she said. "That is why we had conditions that the impound lot remain accessible because the Sixth Avenue road has not been developed."
As progress is made on the location, the borough assembly will still need to approve the monthly lease amount and final size of the building. The shelter will only be able to house up to 20 cats.
If it becomes necessary, the shelter will look at expanding with another unit to house dogs, through the permit agreement would need to be revisited because of a noise ordinance. The dog shelter, which would be the same size, would be adjacent to the cat shelter but with a dog run located between the two buildings.
Sargent addressed concerns about past animal boarding issues in town and said St. Frances was aware of those situations. The organization is working with the police department to address the problem and find foster homes for any dogs involved in those cases.
Sargent said they hope to have the building in place, connected and operating by the fall.
Wrangell is the only borough in Southeast with a population of over 2,000 people where the borough doesn't provide some kind of support, whether land, space or financing, for an animal shelter, O'Brien said.
"We have been filling a need that the city has not provided, with thousands of dollars and hours of person power to prevent another outbreak of feral cats (by) finding homes for animals and providing care for those in need," she said.
"This is a nonprofit. Nobody makes any money," Sargent said. "There are no salaries for people." As a nonprofit, St. Frances can apply for grants.
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