Friendswood may get new animal shelter

Photo by Kim Christensen

Friendswood has taken the first step towards replacing its overcrowded and outdated animal control facility.
During its meeting Monday night, City Council approved the authorization of $250,000 out of the city general fund reserves for survey and architectural engineering work for a new animal control facility at a yet-to-be-decided site.
We're just getting the ball rolling," city spokesman Nick Haby said.
The city's current animal control facility at 1322 Deepwood Drive is smaller than most houses at 1,000 square feet. It was built in 1989 and is so dilapidated that the state in July put it on six months' probation for eight violations.
The building is near Clear Creek and has flooded several times over the years.
All City Council members expressed a sense of urgency" about the facility during Monday night's meeting, Haby said. There was also discussion about the $250,000 potentially being reimbursed to the city's general fund reserves with a different funding source, he said.
That could include funding from a bond referendum, Haby said. City staff will soon start working on hiring an architect to design plans for a new animal control facility, he said.
City Council has discussed potential sites for the facility in closed session, but not publicly, Haby said.
Basically what we're doing is preparing at this time to get the project shovel ready," he said.