Members of Conservation Commission do not think a parcel of land at the corner of Shelton Avenue and Nells Rock Road is a good spot for a new animal shelter.
They unanimously voted against the site during their meeting Wednesday.
The rejection was supported by members of the town’s Animal Shelter Building Committee. It has spent the past few years lobbying the city to grant the new animal shelter a parcel of land next to the current Shelton Animal Shelter on Riverdale Avenue.
“We were directed to that site [at Nells Rock Road and Shelton Avenue],” Committee Chairman Tony Minopoli said. “We never requested it.”
Minopoli that Mayor Mark Lauretti recommend the site to the committee.
Minopoli also said that there has been no opposition from the public about putting a new, more than 5,000 square-foot animal shelter facility downtown, in the same area as the current one.
The only questions, which are environmental, have been addressed through both Phase I and Phase II environmental testing. The testing came back clean, he said.
The current animal shelter is about 1,200 square feet, and Shelton Animal Control Officer Sheryl Taylor said it is nowhere near enough space for all the animals that the shelter takes in as Shelton’s population grows.
“We need a shelter that’s suitable for the times,” Taylor said.
Even with tight quarters, Taylor stressed that she has had no complaints about noise from residents who live near the existing animal shelter.
Taylor emphasized the lack of noise complaints after Nells Rock area resident Marilynn Gannon cited the quiet of the neighborhood as a reason for opposing the proposal.
Gannon and several other area residents voiced their opposition to a separate proposal to put a dog park on parcel of land, again citing noise concerns.
Members of the Animal Shelter Building Committee stressed that they are in no way involved with the dog park proposal, and they seemed to be preaching to the choir.
The Conservation Commission members said they had gone on the record as being unanimously opposed to the dog park once, and their feelings on the issue had not changed. (Editor’s Note: Members of the Commission say they are not unanimously opposed to a dog park. See reader comment below or visit the Commission Chairman’s blog for clarification).
