The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved plans to build a full-service animal services facility on Eubanks Road adjacent to the Orange County landfill.

The facility, which is estimated to cost $6.5 million, will house the animal shelter, Orange County Animal Control and the administrative division of the Animal Services Department. The divisions are now located at three separate properties.

“It’s a whole package,” said Bob Marotto, county animal services director. “It has so many elements, and they all relate to one another.”

The plans include a large adoption area, which could accommodate as many as 264 animals. The current animal shelter can hold 166 animals.
The design also includes an onsite medical facility, which would enable animal services to spay or neuter animals at the center rather than send them to outside veterinarians for surgery.

Animal services wanted a facility that was a “community destination,” designed to educate and promote visitation and adoption, according to Ellen Weinstein of Dixon-Weinsten Architects, the firm contracted to design the building.

In addition, the plans incorporate several sustainable design elements, including storm-water management, geothermal heating and cooling systems, energy-efficient lighting and maximum southern exposure to ensure the use of natural light.

Weinstein said the sustainable design elements are especially important for facilities like animal services centers.

“In this building in particular, [sustainable design] is of critical importance,” she said, because animal services facilities are “energy hogs.”

The county is replacing the animal shelter because the current facility is located on the university’s Carolina North project and must be vacated by December 31, 2008. Animal services administrators had originally thought the shelter’s lease would extend through 2009, so officials are working aggressively to ensure that the facility is completed during the shorter timeline.

“It’s really a breakneck schedule,” Marotto said. “We really need to move forward.”

Animal services hopes to begin construction on the facility in the late fall or early winter of this year.