The storied history of public animal control and sheltering in Dallas is preparing for its next chapter, with a proposed $114 million facility seeking to be part of the city's $1 billion city bond election in May 2024.
As part of a campaign for new quarters, leaders of Dallas Animal Services, the city’s publicly funded animal shelter and control department, are stressing the space strains being placed on its facility off I-30 and Westmoreland Road in West Dallas, which opened in 2007.
A larger in-house clinic, more room for visitors, and space for holding classes and seminars on animal care would be part of the proposed 120,000-square-foot compound, about double the spread of the current location.
"Other cities in this country have better facilities, more progressive facilities," Rachael Gearing, a member of the city’s appointed Animal Advisory Commission, said in a commission meeting on August 24. "It will make a huge difference. If we all love animals, why wouldn’t we want a new facility?”
Voters in several DFW towns and counties agree, as they have approved new or renovated animal services in Carrollton, Rowlett, and Garland in the past four years.
Voters in Houston and San Antonio last year also approved bond packages that included millions in funding for animal services. Collin County will ask voters to sign off on a $6 million expansion of its animal shelter in November as part of a $700 million bond package.
Preliminary design of the Dallas animal service building includes a central building with pod-like animal quarters, more parking, and expanded outdoor areas.
Outdoor space has become particularly important in shelter design, with play areas used as a way to help animals decompress and present better to potential adopters. According to the proposed conceptual design by Quorum Architects, Inc, the outdoor spaces will consist of more than 60,000 square feet for outdoor runs, meet & greet playyards, and exercise yards.
The new facility would be located on land owned by the city’s parks department about a mile away from the current building.
Outdoor spaces will consist of over 60,000 square feet for outdoor runs, meet & greet playyards, and exercise yards. Quorum
But first, the concept needs to be included on the bond package.
“This is not even a slam dunk to be on the ballot,” says MeLissa Webber, director of Dallas Animal Services.
The shelter will compete with other department pitches for a spot in the bond package, such as funding for streets, parks, flood control, and economic development. Recommendations will be presented to the city council in December.
The animal services need is driven, Webber said, by both time and traffic.
"The current Dallas Animal Services was built when the world was a different place, and this was more about catching stray dogs and holding them until their owner could get them," says Webber, who came to Dallas after working in similar roles in Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego. "It was public safety and strays rather than life-saving programs."
In 2018, a "Dallas90" plan was established to use innovative operations and increase community engagement. The plan spurred new volunteer and foster programs aimed at increasing the number of adoptions and bringing down the number of euthanized animals.
"All of these programs are in place, and they take people to run them," Webber says. "So my foster and rescue team[s] are working out of a storage closet."
The shelter has 300 kennels, and on a recent afternoon, cages were set in hallways to accommodate the overflow, a reported 385 dogs in residence in July. Parking has for years been a problem at the facility and even on a slow day, the spaces are limited.
The design and creation of a new facility was one of the department goals Webber was tasked with by the City Manager's office when she took her position in 2021. She's the shelter's third director in the last decade; the turnover rate for shelter managers is high. Her master plan was published as a part of the 2023-2024 budget book.
"This is a shelter that would take us into 2050 and beyond,” Webber says. "I won't be around then, so it's for the city of Dallas, it's for the animals. It's for Dallas Animal Services."
Fletcher's Chocolate Corny Dog. Photo courtesy of State Fair of Texas