SPRINGDALE -- The search for a place to put the city's new animal shelter continues after City Council members declined to pick a favored location Tuesday.
The council's Finance Committee, which includes all eight council members, asked the mayor to get an appraisal and other information for about 12 acres off of West Huntsville Avenue near Central Junior High School. The group voted 5-3 against endorsing the location outright and recommending its purchase for $750,000, which would have then required a formal City Council vote.
Mayor Doug Sprouse at the meeting's start called the location "the best site we've looked at" for the 5,500-square-foot facility because of its central location and potential for a park and section of a trail. Several residents told the committee they also supported the spot.
But the majority of committee members said there were too many unsettled details, such as the exact value of the land and how much the shelter would cost to build there. Sprouse expects some of that information in the next few days or weeks. The committee will have another chance to support one location or another at its next meeting July 2.
Springdale voters in February approved about $5 million in bonds for the new shelter as part of a bigger bond package. The city has looked for a spot at least since then. Officials abandoned J.B. Hunt Park as a candidate earlier this month after the objections of some neighbors who didn't want it near their homes.
That left several other possibilities, including off of Ford Avenue in the city's industrial park area. Sprouse said Huntsville, besides its central location, would leave around 8 acres for a city park and give the shelter prominent placement along a busy thoroughfare.
Alderman Jim Reed of Ward 1 moved to endorse the location before someone else buys it on the condition it be appraised for at least the $750,000 asking price. Ricky Evans and Rick Culver joined him.
"Let's lock it down, and if it works out, it works out," Evans said.
The others brought up several reasons not to do so yet. Committee chairman Jeff Watson of Ward 3 said he'd at least want an appraisal in hand before committing to the purchase. Colby Fulfer of Ward 1, who owns the nearby Westfield Chapel Funeral Home, said the public should have as much of a chance to speak on the location as it did for J.B. Hunt Park.
"That's my only concern," Fulfer said.
NW News on 06/19/2018