Central Missouri Humane Society obtains land for new shelter

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Central Missouri Humane Society has acquired land for its new shelter.

CMHS spokesperson Michelle Casey said the organization obtained 17.5 acres of land on the northwest corner of Rangeline Street and Brown School Road just North of Columbia.

"We've needed a new building for a really long time, so this was a really important step to find property that was going to be a good fit for us," Casey said.

CMHS has been in its current building since 1976. Last month, Casey told ABC 17 News that CMHS has outgrown its space on Big Bear Boulevard and the property allowed no room to expand. The shelter is also a safety hazard with black mold and asbestos.

"We just want to make sure as a shelter that we're continuing to evolve and grow, so we can not only meet the current needs, but the future needs of this community," Casey said.

CMHS purchased the land for $800,000. Casey said they are now working with engineers and architects to get an estimate on how much it will cost to build the new shelter.

She said CMHS is in the schematic design phase, but won't move onto the construction phase until the organization is closer to their fundraising goal. Right now, she said they are in the silent fundraising phase, looking for large donors to come forward to help with the project.

A news release Thursday said the next step is to annex and rezone the property. Casey said Crockett Engineering Consultants will help CMHS with this.

The shelter hopes to break ground on its new facility in 2024. Coil Construction Inc will be assisting with construction plans.

Casey said the new shelter will be about 23,000 square feet, which is almost double the current shelter's size of about 12,000-13,000 square feet.

The new shelter site is only a couple minutes up the road from its current location on Big Bear Boulevard. Casey said location was important because they have a working relationship with the University of Missouri's Shelter Medicine program, which is located right next to the current shelter.

"Finding this new property that is close to where we are now, is going to be really helpful in maintaining that relationship with Shelter Medicine and making it easy to transfer animals back and forth," Casey said.

She said animal housing space in the new building will be comparable to that of the current shelter, but the new building will also have a focus on resources.

"The big thing in the new building is really focusing on community resources and what we can do to prevent animals from even coming into the shelter in the first place," Casey said.

She said CMHS has several safety net programs to help pet owners who may be trying to decide if they should relinquish their pet. The shelter has a program called Animal Safety Net for survivors of domestic violence, in which CMHS takes in those pets and gives them care before reuniting them with their owners once the owners find safe and permanent housing.

CMHS also houses the City of Columbia's Animal Control services. Casey said CMHS has plans to include Animal Control in its new facility.

As of last month, Deputy City Manager Mike Griggs said there were no city funds designated to the new shelter, but that could change if the new location includes the city's Animal Control services.

On Thursday, he said CMHS has not officially informed the City of Columbia about its plans for a new shelter, so there is no new information at this point.