Battlefords Humane Society president Dr. Shawn Haas gives an update on the organization's plans for a new building. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Planning Ahead

Humane Society still finalizing site for new building and negotiating details

Mar 5, 2020 | 6:02 PM

The Battlefords Humane Society is still finalizing a location for its plans to build a new animal shelter to replace the existing site which is in poor condition.

President Dr. Shawn Haas gave Battleford council an update on the project this week. The town contributes to the annual operating cost of the existing facility and also contributed to the new facility.

Haas said the Humane Society previously looked at a location on Fyfe Ave. at the Parson Industrial Park in North Battleford offered by the city at a token fee of $1 for the sale.

“We have been in the process of trying to design and build a new shelter facility for approximately five years now,” he said. “The last couple of years we have spent negotiating with the City of North Battleford relative to a site on Fyfe Ave.”

Haas said the city also offered to provide an operating grant and capital grant in the arrangement for the new building. The Humane Society also continues to provide the city’s kennel/dog pound services as part of its shelter facility.

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The Humane Society board was concerned if it accepted the city’s capital grant that would mean the city would have more ownership of the building.

“Essentially, if at any point in time the Humane Society stopped providing the city with pound (dog pound) service, then the property and all of the facilities we had constructed would have to go back to the city,” Haas said. “Considering we were looking at putting a million-and-a-half of our dollars into the project, the Humane Society board did not feel that was appropriate.”

The Humane Society wanted to be the primary owner of the building, to have control over the facility, its build and future decision–making on the project.

Currently, the organization is looking at establishing a different type of relationship with the city for the project, as a fee-for-service basis, as opposed to an operating grant, since it is eyeing a site in the rural municipality. Haas said the new facility would need to be within the boundaries of North Battleford for the city to provide it with an operating grant.

The Humane Society is looking at a site in the RM of North Battleford, just outside the city in the Highway 4 N. area, where they could purchase land for the project at a lower cost.

The Humane Society has been approved for a discretionary-land-use application through the RM for the property which is currently zoned agricultural.

The long-term plan is for the facility to include a space for the shelter as well as a boarding facility.

Shelter manager Michelle Spark told battlefordsNOW so far the organization has raised just over $600,000 for the estimated $1.3 million goal for the shelter part of the facility only (not the boarding facility).

“I believe we won’t know until the end of April if we definitely have the property or not,” she said. “We still have to drill test holes for water.”

The next fundraiser gala dinner and auction for the Humane Society will be held April 25 at the Gold Ridge Centre at the Gold Eagle Casino.

When reached by battlefordsNOW, North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater said the city is still pleased to continue to support the Humane Society with the project, even though the new proposed location would be outside the city limits.

He said based on the latest discussions the city has offered the Humane Society an annual operating grant of $150,000 a year, for a minimum of five years.

Bater said the city proposal to the Humane Society for an annual operating grant, which he said might also be called a fee-per-service, is for the new facility “to provide them stability.”

“There would be no capital grant, so it would be their building and they can build it where they desire,” he said. “Our interest is simply in having the service [shelter] available. We have an interest in supporting the Humane Society. They do great work, and they need a new building, really badly. That current building needs to be replaced. Council knows that, and we have been very supportive of that.”

Bater said while the city preferred to fund projects that are within the city boundaries, he said “we are flexible, and our desire is really about supporting the Humane Society.”

Bater said the city already provides an operating grant for the Humane Society’s current location. So in the original negotiations for the Fyfe Ave. property the city would have provided an increased operating grant, as well as a capital grant which is a contribution to the building itself. Bater confirmed there was a condition in the original contract that in the event the Humane Society were to become insolvent, which he said would be a worst case scenario, then those assets would “revert back to the city.”

He added the city would continue to support the shelter project wherever it’s located but would not be able to contribute to the future component of a boarding facility which is a business.

Overall the mayor said the city does understand why the Humane Society wants to own the building, and the city wants to continue to offer its assistance to the new shelter however it can.

“The city has supported it for decades and we will continue to,” Bater said.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW