Tyler Seeking Bids for New Animal Care Facility

TYLER — The Tyler City Council voted unanimously to allow City Staff to advertise for bids for the renovation of an existing building for a new animal care facility. In December 2013, property at 4218 Chandler Highway was purchased for a permanent, city-owned animal care facility. The property includes ten acres of land and a 20,000-square-foot building. The architectural firm Freese and Nichols and their subcontractor who specializes in animal facilities, Designed Learned, Inc., were contracted to determine the needs of the facility, how the building and grounds should be utilized, and to design the renovation of the facility for the new, highly specialized use.

Then, in March 2014, the Tyler City Council created a seven member Animal Care Advisory Board to make recommendations to the City Council and City staff regarding State law responsibilities, operation of the animal shelter and animal welfare in the community.

Following the termination of the contract with Klein, the City has been using a temporary holding facility while preparing for a new permanent facility. The temporary facility is not appropriate for the City’s long-term needs for several reasons, including:
*The current facility does not have an intake/processing area to adequately assess animals before they enter the general population.
*The current facility does not have an HVAC system that can provide the recommended 20 air changes per hour.
*There is no clinic workspace to perform diagnostic bloodwork tests or fecal exams.
*There is no medical isolation area for diseased animals.

The building will be renovated in three phases to accommodate animal control, a holding facility and adoptions with other, possible future uses. Phase one of the renovation will encompass work on 12,700 square feet of the 18,000 total square feet. This will enable the animal shelter to accommodate a total of 73 dogs (for holding, isolation and display), 65 or more cats (for holding, isolation, and display) and an additional adoption visitation room. The Opinion of Probable Cost is approximately $3.7 million for this phase of construction.