Montville ― The town is exploring funding options for a proposed $2.3 million animal control facility.

After the town learned of the price estimate for the new facility in December, Planning Director Liz Burdick met with the town’s Animal Control Officer Christian Swanson and Councilor Robert Yuchniuck, who is the animal control officer in Waterford and East Lyme, to revise the plans in an effort to reduce the cost.

At its Jan. 9 meeting, the Town Council authorized Burdick to apply for a state Community Investment Fund grant to supplement the cost.

The town appropriated $800,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, based on a cost estimate from 2018, for the project in April 2022. Since, the town has worked with Silver & Petrucelli and Associates to design and estimate costs for the project, which used $92,000 of the ARPA funding. The project currently is expected to cost $2,322,111 and, to reach that total, the town applied for about $1,613,811 in grant funding.

The purpose of the Community Investment Fund is to aid economic development in “historically under-served communities across the state” and provides up to $175 million to eligible municipalities yearly. The Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) expects to administer at least two rounds of funding per fiscal year. Montville is listed as a “public investment community” and is one of 55 eligible municipalities for the funding.

Grants are available for capital improvement programs and small business capital programs. Projects that promote economic or community development and/or “advance fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals” are eligible for the grant, as listed on the state’s website.

“Without funding from the Community Investment Fund, sadly, this very important project for Montville will be on hold and other options may be considered,” Burdick said in an email.

If the town is not awarded the grant, it will explore other solutions, including regionalizing its animal control with a neighboring town or towns. Mayor Ron McDaniel said in an email last week that the town has explored this option in the past with East Lyme, Waterford and New London. The shared facility was to be built on the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Facility property, but McDaniel cited “ownership issues” for the idea’s failure.

McDaniel also said the town considered using either the New London/Waterford facility at Bates Woods Park or the Norwich facility at Mohegan Park but said Swanson thought the distance made the situation impractical.

“I am sure we would be open to further options should funding be an impediment,” McDaniel said.

If funding is secured and a final design is submitted by this spring, Silver Petrucelli & Associates expects 12 to 14 months of construction to complete the project, it wrote in its schematic design narrative.

The town’s current facility at 225 Maple Ave., also home to the town’s Department of Public Works’ headquarters, is in “pretty rough shape,” Burdick said. In a summary of the project, Burdick said the facility, made of concrete blocks, was built sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. It is one room and described as “overcrowded.” A propane gas heater heats the building but often is not functioning and there is no safe public access to or parking for the facility.

Burdick described the facility as one room with a center aisle and kennels on either side. There are currently nine kennel runs, two of which are designated for cats because there is no other space for them. One of the kennels is designated as a quarantine kennel, as per state statute.

Burdick said, upon inspection, the current facility does not meet state requirements and has failed in the past on “numerous occasions.” She said the existing shelter has been at the point of capacity a number of times, with animals overflowing into additional crates kept in the aisle of the facility.

Swanson told Burdick that the current facility impounds roaming dogs, injured, neglected/cruelly treated animals and biting animals, as well as those given up by owners who can no longer provide care.

Swanson said the town has seen an increase in animals being relinquished over the past several years. Affordable housing continues to be difficult to find while landlords are resistant to allowing pets on rental properties.

Burdick said the new facility, to be built at the same location, will benefit the town by continuing to meet the town’s animal control and safety needs, providing Swanson and her staff with a hygienic and safe working environment, providing a cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing, sustainable, low-maintenance and ADA-accessible building, and providing an opportunity to facilitate its use by nearby towns without shelters to generate income to the town to offset future maintenance costs.

Silver Petrucelli & Associates wrote in its schematic design narrative that the grounds for the new facility are currently undeveloped. The new, one-story building include a public entry, a staff office, a kitchenette, dry storage, a pantry, a wash area, a grooming space, 12 kennels, one over-sized kennel, a cattery, two fenced-in outdoor play areas and utilities.

The new building will have a six-car parking lot and a short driveway connecting to the public works driveway.

The existing animal shelter will remain operational during construction to allow for a seamless transition between the two facilities.

In 2018 a Public Safety Commission Subcommittee was formed to investigate the need of a new facility. It considered four locations around Montville and decided to build it across the driveway from the current facility with an estimated cost in $800,000 range at the time.

The Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council approved the 225 Maple Ave. site for the facility last summer.

k.arnold@theday.com