BENTONVILLE — The Pet Resource and Services Steering Committee selected land near the intersection of Southwest Eighth and I streets as its top choice for an animal shelter.
The decision came after members discussed the pros and cons of three locations at a meeting Friday.
It’s an area with high visibility, accessibility and trees to provide shade, committee member Tim Robinson read off a list complied from other members.
Previous discussions among committee members and city officials have centered more around land near the Community Center. The committee ranked that location second Friday.
Land at the city’s compost facility ranked last, largely because it would have to be moved before a shelter could be built, committee members said.
The city owns 12 acres near the Community Center and is eyeing it for an administration building. Officials have said the land would be large enough for both the office building and the animal shelter.
Walmart owns 34.5 undeveloped acres hugging Southwest Eighth Street, on the west side of Southwest I Street, according to property records.
The committee is looking for 4 to 5 acres, which would be used for the animal shelter building, outdoor space for shelter animals and a separate space for a community dog park.
Robinson said Walmart is open to some of its land being used for an animal shelter.
“There are certain details that need to be worked out, but everybody is certainly at the table of that conversation,” said Becca Hazelwood, committee member representing the Walton Family Foundation.
The land near the Community Center has the highest visibility, but the roads it’d would be next to — Southwest I Street and Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard — are much larger and busier, Robinson said, reading the cons of that site. The site doesn’t have shade, and some nearby neighbors have already expressed opposition to a shelter close to their homes, he said.
“For me, shade is probably one of the biggest things,” said Steven Galen, committee member.
The Bentonville Park Bark at the city’s north end is a great facility but can be “brutal” when the sun is out and there’s no shade, he said.
Traffic going out toward the Community Center can also be “brutal,” becoming an obstacle for accessibility, said Romaine Kobilsek, committee member and president of Spay Arkansas, a low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Springdale.
Though the Southwest Eighth and I streets location isn’t as central to the city’s core as the compost facility, it’s closer than the site near the Community Center, a few members commented.
The committee also discussed having a third party pay for and oversee the design phase of the project, which is estimated to cost between $250,000 and $350,000. The third party wasn’t named at Friday’s meeting.
Having a third party lead the process would allow it to happen quicker because items wouldn’t have to wait for city approval, members discussed. The city will lead the construction process because it will be asked to contribute money for the building.
The animal shelter will be a public-private partnership. The city will continue to offer animal control services, but any other services beyond that will be the responsibility of the partnering nonprofit group, the committee has previously discussed.
Camille Thompson, the city’s staff attorney, is talking with private groups to develop an operating agreement.
Bentonville contracts with Centerton to take lost and stray dogs to its animal shelter. The three-year contract has a base fee of $300,000 plus $100 for each dog taken to the shelter.
Bentonville is the only one of the region’s four largest cities without an animal shelter.
Meeting information
The Pet Resource and Services Steering Committee will meet from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. the third Monday of each month at the Bentonville Public Library, 405 S. Main St.
Source: Staff report
Melissa Gute can be reached at mgute@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAMelissa.
