The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved plans for a new animal shelter on the old Tustin Marine base, but the question of whether it will be a no-kill shelter will depend on how much each city ponies up to contract animal control services with the county, according to an official.
“If a city wants to pay more to keep a cat or a dog alive and there’s space then fine they’ll just have to pay a little extra for it,” explained Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
But some cities “just want us to handle it and keep the costs down” and don’t want to pay extra for a no-kill shelter, Nelson said.
Sorry, Fido.
Guess it’ll apparently be a partial-kill shelter—or worse if no extra costs are borne by the contract cities of Anaheim, Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda.
The $35 million project will actually be built on 10 acres of land that is currently owned by the South Orange County Community College District. Because the Navy has been so slow to approve plans for the animal shelter, the Board of Supervisors decided to lease the SOCCCD property to get going on construction and, once the approval comes, deed 10 acres of land elsewhere on the base to the college district, Nelson said.
Construction on the shelter that will replace the existing facilities built in 1941 could begin as soon as July, according to county staffers.
