SPRINGDALE -- Courtney Kremer loves everything she sees in the plans for the city's new animal shelter -- the location, the updated facility, the ease of cleaning.
Kremer is the city's director of animal services.
Not everyone in the community expresses the same excitement.
Shane Cluck is concerned about possible noise created by the animals. Cluck is administrator of the Walnut Grove Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which sits directly west of the shelter's site. The shelter will sit on the south side of Don Tyson Parkway just east of Old Missouri Road.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved the plan for the shelter, presented by McClelland Consulting Engineers in Fayetteville. Mayor Doug Sprouse said officials expect to sign a construction contract and begin building by late July, with construction complete in summer 2020.
Springdale voters in February 2018 approved a $4.7 million bond issue to build the shelter.
Cluck and nearby residents shared concerns about the location last summer as the City Council chose the site, and he renewed his concern during a recent Planning Commission meeting. He said he worried the noise would disrupt the peace and quality of life of the center's residents. He noted the center's memory care wing sits close to the shelter site.
The design includes a berm, landscaping and a wall between the center and the shelter.
"They might build it with state-of-the-art technology, and that might mitigate the noise, but I don't know," Cluck said. "But the city has got to take a look and do the level best to ensure the quality of life -- even if it's going to cost more -- for the folks that belong here."
Residents from around the city voiced concerns about noise, odor and other issues as officials considered several sites for the shelter.
Sprouse challenged them to go to the shelter on Randall Wobbe Lane, which doesn't have the technology and design of the new building. He said he heard no barking dogs while sitting in his car in the parking lot.
"We want to be good neighbors," he said. "We're going to do everything we can to minimize the noise."
The new shelter will include an area to provide isolation for dogs who show signs of illness.
"It will be completely walled off," Kremer said.
Springdale's current shelter recently re-opened after two weeks of being closed because the animals were exposed to two dogs with distemper.
The new shelter will provide more options to isolate animals not only from other animals, but also from well-meaning visitors who want to pet all the dogs and could spread illness with their hands, Kremer said.
"This way, when we know someone is not feeling well, when their nose is runny and their eyes are watering, when their poop is bad, we can move them away from other dogs and let them take medicine and get better," she said.
Kremer also likes the design for the sally port area. It provides a confined space for animal control officers to unload animals. A fence enclosing the area will provide another layer of containment for animals that try to run, she said.
State Desk on 05/13/2019