Over the last six years, there have been numerous council reports and discussions about renovating or reconstructing the Burwell Road animal shelter.
And in July of 2019, city council approved a location on Southdale Line near the Doug Tarry Sports Complex for a new facility.
At the June 6 council meeting, city engineer Justin Lawrence advised the city has awarded the architectural proposal to a+LiNK Architecture of London, one of whose founding members is St. Thomas resident Ed van der Maarel.
In April of this year, council was advised of a $1 million donation from Sara Teare to kick off fundraising efforts for the new animal services shelter.
In November of 2018, Sara and her husband David contributed $500,000 to gain the naming rights to 1Password Park, their company that creates password management software used by millions of customers around the world.
Going back to the city’s 2021 capital budget, a new animal shelter at with an estimated cost of $1.5 million was placed on the not recommended for approval list.
It came with the notation, that this project may be considered during 2021 should fundraising goals be achieved.
It was also left off the 2020 budget list.
With the donation from Teare, Lawrence reminded members council has authorized the project, there is a budget and the next step is awarding the construction contract.
Written by Ian McCallum
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