Fresno County decides to make plans for new animal shelter

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- About 8,000 dogs have gone through Fresno County's temporary animal shelter over the past two years. That's two hot summers and two cold winters in metal pens, in the parking lot and maintenance shed at the old county morgue. It's where they will continue to be held for at least 18 months while the county works on planning a new shelter.

County Supervisor Phil Larson told his fellow board members it was time to get moving. He said, "Hey the law says we've got to have animal control, that's state law, says you've got to have animal control."

The Board was considering a plan to tear down the old morgue building to make way for a new animal shelter. Doing that would require relocating the animals to another location while demolition and construction was underway. But in a turnaround decided on Tuesday to put off demolition and acquire a two-acre parcel adjacent to the morgue property on which to build.

County Health Director Dave Pomaville said that would make things easier. He said, "The option of acquiring additional property certainly changes the dynamic of how construction would occur, the order of things, and the potential for the movement of the animals and so forth would be far less disruptive."

Supervisor Debbie Poochigian agreed that was the best location for a shelter, in terms of access for county residents. She said, "I love that location. I've been out there several times."

And Larson was not concerned over the fact the adjacent property isn't for sale. He said, "We can get the property...you say, well, the owner doesn't want to sell it. We can get the property."

But Supervisor Judy Cae McNairy had reservations. She said, "We are talking about spending 3 and a half, 4 million dollars and nobody's shown me the money yet."

But the supervisors all agreed to direct county staff to make plans to buy the adjacent property, and get estimates on a new building and figure out how the county will pay for it. All that has to happen before any actual construction can start.

Poochigian told the staff to keep it simple. She said, "We don't need a Taj Mahal; it's going to be for dogs."

Fresno County was forced to set up its own animal control system two years ago after both the city of Fresno and the county had a falling out with the Central Valley SPCA, which had provided animal control services for both the city and county for 50 years. The city and county had planned to work together on a new animal control facility but the city ended up staying with the SPCA after agreeing to pay twice as much for the service, leaving Fresno County on its own. It's expected to take at least a year and a half for the county to get its shelter built.