A grant program approved by the state General Assembly in July could cover half the cost of a regional animal shelter for the towns of East Lyme, Montville and Waterford.

Officials from the state and the three towns have been working for months on a plan to build a joint shelter at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Facility in Uncasville, hailing it as an opportunity to regionalize municipal services and save money but have run up against funding concerns and opposition from some local residents.

Waterford Town Attorney Robert Avena said in July that lawyers from the state were hesitant to sign a long-term lease with the towns for a shelter on the prison grounds until they are certain the towns will be able to pay to build it.

Now leaders from the three towns may be able to request funding help from the state after discovering a bonding bill passed with the state budget this spring that creates a "regional dog pound grant program."

The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management is responsible for the grant, which can fund up to half of "the provision, construction, maintenance or improvement of suitable buildings for the operation of the regional dog pound."

The grant program originated as a bill in the state House of Representatives in 2015 but was never voted on, according to OPM spokesman Chris McClure.

During budget negotiations for the current fiscal year, the grant program was placed in a bill authorizing $360 million in new bonding statewide and passed by the state Senate last month, McClure said.

Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel said the leaders of the three towns looking to build the shelter together discovered the grant program recently and have sent a joint letter to OPM asking how to apply.

"When you start trying to pore through the … pages of the budget, some things catch your eye," McDaniel said.

The original House bill was supported by the Connecticut Council of Small Towns (COST).

"Many towns are worried that existing animal shelters have reached capacity and do not have the funding available to expand facilities to accommodate growing needs," COST Executive Director Betsy Gara said in her testimony in support of the bill. "This program will provide towns with additional options in determining how to move forward to expand or consolidate animal shelter services, benefiting both our towns and animals in need of shelter."

If the Corrigan-Radgowski shelter plan is implemented, the three towns would pay for the construction of the new building on the prison grounds and lease the property from the state.

Animals found in the three towns would be taken to a facility on the prison grounds that would be leased by the towns and maintained by Corrigan-Radgowski prisoners.

Town and state officials have not yet evaluated how much building a new shelter would cost, Waterford First Selectman Daniel Steward said last week.

Some Waterford residents have criticized the plan, saying Corrigan-Radgowski is an inconvenient location and that they wouldn't feel comfortable volunteering or visiting with children near the prison.

An ad-hoc committee composed of Waterford and East Lyme residents recommended building a regional shelter at the prison last year, and another committee composed of officials from all three towns was formed in February to assess the plan.

That committee has met at least once at the prison, where McDaniel said Warden Antonio Santiago has expressed support for the shelter plan.

m.shanahan@theday.com