‘Didn’t see this coming:’ Council scraps proposed location for new Animal Shelter in Ascension Parish

ASCENSION PARISH, La. (WAFB) - Almost everyone agrees that Ascension Parish needs a new animal shelter.

In fact, officials have already set aside the money to build it, but where are they going to put it? That is the question that has a lot of people divided.

Members of the Ascension Parish Council denied the proposal from Parish President Clint Cointment’s Office at their meeting last week, to build the new facility on LA 44 near Turo Lane.

So now, it could be back to the drawing board to see how people’s tax dollars are spent on the project.

“So, for the last three years, we’ve had the Animal Service’s Board working hard with the administration and also with members of the council to try and find a shelter location for the new animal shelter. And that has been the biggest struggle, finding the right property,” said Ruth Phillips, Chief of Staff at Ascension Parish Government.

Cara’s House in Sorrento is already over capacity and the needs are growing more every day. Cara’s House has a cooperative endeavor agreement with the parish to be their public intake shelter. So once a new parish animal shelter is built, that will be the new location that Cara’s House will operate.

Back in 2018, voters approved a tax which generates about $1.4 to 1.7 million every year.

“And that money is being used to help fund the operations of the current Cara’s House, it helped pay for the renovations at the current Cara’s House. And then the rest of the money is going into the bank to purchase the property, build it, do the construction, engineering, architectural services,” said Phillips.

But the parish president’s office thought they had a solid plan in place and were ready to pull the trigger, until their idea was shot down last week.

The piece of land on LA 44 near Turo Lane was the top option by parish officials for that new facility. But after a few neighbors complained to their council members, it may not be the best bet moving forward.

“Why Gonzales. Why the City of Gonzales,” said Jerry, who lives in a neighborhood behind the proposed spot for the new animal shelter. “My biggest concern is the noise from the animals barking, and the smell and basically what goes along with having a pound in your backyard.”

“We didn’t really foresee this being this controversial because the property is zoned to put an animal shelter there today. The owner today could build an animal shelter, and there’s nothing anybody could do about it. So, we didn’t see this coming, had we, we would’ve done a lot more public outreach, which we still intend on doing,” said Phillips.

Phillips says the four main criteria they are looking at for the new facility are:

- Has to fit the parish zoning criteria

- Be at least 5 acres large

- Has to not be in a flood zone

- Price tag

The facility could cost somewhere around $6 million dollars or more. Phillips believes the earliest they could break ground on a new facility would be sometime in the third quarter of 2024.

“We absolutely need a new shelter. I’m disappointed it’s taken this long. The leadership has not moved it forward as much as I really think they should have,” said Councilman Aaron Lawler, district 7.

Councilman Lawler believes an animal shelter should not be placed on prime real estate throughout the parish.

“That’s a really good commercial area and that is where we get our tax base from our commercial areas. I would hate to see it taken out of commerce for that reason,” said Lawler.

“I thought that this was a great proposed location. I understand that there is conflict with it, and I’m going to continue moving froward. This is very important to President Cointment that we get a new shelter in this parish, sooner rather than later,” said Phillips.

There is a public meeting set for next Tuesday, February 28 on this topic.

It will take place at 6 p.m. at the Parsh Governmental Complex on North Burnside Avenue.

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