Members of the Denton Animal Shelter Foundation told the City Council on Tuesday that they had surpassed their goal, raising more than $2 million in cash and in-kind donations toward building a new animal shelter.
The City Council, in turn, authorized the city staff to begin negotiating with Larry Connolly of Connolly Architects and Consultants, the architectural firm that has been with the project since the beginning.
Police Capt. Scott Fletcher told the council that if negotiations with the firm went well, the council would be able to consider the contract later this summer. He anticipated the entire project would take about 18 months, and the new shelter could open in December 2012.
A building committee with an equal number of members from the city and the foundation would oversee the project.
To open next year, design of the 15,000-square-foot, $5 million building would need to begin about September. Then, construction, planned for land adjacent to North Lakes Park, would need to begin in early 2012, he said.
The City Council pledged $3 million of capital improvement project money to the project in November.
Foundation president Bette Sherman told the council the group recently received a $250,000 grant from a private charitable trust to put them over the top.
"The public-private partnership has been very persuasive in our fundraising," Sherman said, adding that most of the money has come from community contributions.
The new facility would replace the city's 32-year-old animal shelter on Woodrow Lane. Officials have said the new shelter would allow more space for pet adoption and for shelter workers to keep sick animals away from healthy ones.
In all, the group raised $1.5 million in cash and pledges and another $500,000 of in-kind donations.
The exact value of one in-kind donation will not be known until the final cost of the building's construction and the builder is determined: A general contractor has pledged the contracting fee should it win the contract, Sherman said.
Fletcher told the council that about $1 million of the foundation's money would be available for the project in 2011 and another $1.3 million would be available in 2012. The city would also be able to draw down another $223,266 over four years from the foundation to pay for the project.
Sherman told the council that the group will still raise money for the shelter's operations, such as the adoption program and the veterinary services, even though the shelter's daily operation is the city's responsibility.
Once completed, the building will be named for longtime Denton resident Linda McNatt. Her husband, auto dealership owner Jim McNatt, gave $500,000 to the foundation for the honor.
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her email address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .
