Friendswood eyes Sportpark for animal shelter

The recommended site for a planned new $1 million animal shelter in Friendswood is likely to be the Friendswood Sportspark.
During its meeting Monday night, the city's Animal Shelter Advisory Committee discussed whether the new facility should be built at the site of the existing cramped and flood-prone shelter at 1322 Deepwood Drive, at the Sportspark at 2910 W. Parkwood Avenue, or on land at 18836 Baker Road that is owned by the Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District but currently leased to the Friendswood school district.
Mayor David Smith did not attend the meeting, but said he believes that the committee is leaning towards the Sportspark location, where the shelter would be located between the baseball fields and the water tower.
It would have less effect on neighbors and has better accessibility," Smith said.
The Animal Shelter Advisory Committee is expected to make its formal recommendation before City Council's July 12 meeting, Smith said. He likes that the city already owns the Sportspark site, but said a shelter there would eliminate the potential for expansion of the existing softball complex.
It's got some pros and cons," Smith said. But overall compared to the other possible locations we narrowed it to, it's OK. I wish we had a better site than all of those that would have no impact on residents and that had accessibility, but to date we haven't been able to come up with one."
Smith still hopes that construction of the shelter will start before the end of this year.