Anger, confusion build over Prince William animal shelter

The county animal shelter is supposed to be a clean, safe haven for pets who have wandered away, or for animals who have nowhere else to go.

The 45-year-old animal shelter on Bristow Road in Prince William County, however, is described as a place so disgusting employees and volunteers who pause to eat during their lunch breaks do so in a kitchen full of mouse droppings.

And the more than five-year process to build a new replacement building has become just as “deplorable,” said Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors once again this week heard from Deputy County Executive Rebecca Horner, who briefed the board on plans to choose a contractor to build a $15.1 million facility by mid-March. It will replace the current shelter, and work on the building about a year-and-a-half behind schedule as the new facility that was was supposed to open this year.

So far, no dirt has been turned.

“I volunteer at the animal shelter. You cannot come to the kitchen in the shelter where the staff is supposed to have lunch without seeing mouse droppings, etc,” said Louise Weitzel, of Bristow.

She was one of the multiple people who chastised the Board of County Supervisors, and the county staff that reports to it, for the ongoing delays on the project. The criticism comes after Supervisors approved the design for a new shelter in 2017 and allocated funds to pay for it two years later.

Residents lash out at staff, call for audit 

Many urged elected leaders to audit the county staff over the delays, laying the blame at County Executive Christopher Martino. “It’s your job to get this county’s staff to come clean,” one resident told the Board of County Supervisors.

Last week, Horner blamed the delays on communication problems with the firm it hired to design the shelter, Alexandria-based Cole and Denny Architects.

The county also worked to trim back the project in a process it calls “value engineering,” where it pressed the architects to make changes to their design to save money. That process also delayed things, we’re told.

But now, as the county readies to issue construction permits, there is conflicting information on what, exactly, will be built. Supervisors on Tuesday went back and forth with staff over the planned square footage of the new facility. Was the building going to be 27,000, or the 28,000 square feet as originally planned?

And what about the new need for an animal barn to be built as part of the new shelter in order to house large numbers of animals that have been rescued from the likes of hoarders — a need that wasn’t been discussed until now.

Martino promised to return at the next Board of County Supervisors meeting on March 10 with some answers. “Aside from the square footage decrease, it’s essentially the same building as before,” he assured Supervisors.

The foreclosed building in Manassas Park

But, before county leaders made it to that point, Martino and Horner spent the early portion of Tuesday’s meeting talking about an entirely new option:  blow up the plan to build a new shelter and instead, purchase a former veterinary clinic outside the of the county, in Manassas Park, and renovate the existing 45-year-old shelter next to the county landfill.

Leaders didn’t go for the $10 million plan to purchase the Blooms Quarry Animal Shelter at 9471 Manassas Drive in Manassas Park. The building and the one-acre of land on which it sits are assessed at $2.3 million, is in foreclosure, and is set to be auctioned on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.

If Supervisors chose this option, Horner needed them to commit to it on the fly Tuesday night, the first time the Board, and the public, had heard about the scheme.

The 43,000 square-foot building would need to be completed renovated for use as a county animal shelter and would be used in conjunction with the existing animal shelter, which would also be renovated.

Horner told elected leaders this plan would cost 62% less than the long-standing plan to build a new standalone shelter. When Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson questioned the figure, saying the numbers didn’t add up, Horner doubled down and assured her it was correct.

Shortly thereafter, Martino corrected Horner and supported Lawson’s assertion that, in fact, the new plan saves the county only a third of the cost to build a new facility.

Prince William County Supervisors Jeanine Lawson and Victor Angry announced the new plan at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, held outside the existing county animal shelter.

Under the new plan, dubbed Option E, the new dual-building animal shelter would retain many of the features the Board of County Supervisors said it wanted in 2017, like an isolation and recovery room for sick animals, and more than 160 kennels for dogs and cats.

But overall, cumulative square footage is reduced from 28,000 to 25,000 square feet. Nice-to-have amenities like a 500 square-foot employee gym cut.

The project would also be phased, with county staff taking occupancy of the newly renovated shelter starting this fall, and then slowly over the course of the next year.

Already spent $1 million 

The county has already shelled out $1 million for the design of the animal shelter approved in 2017 to Alexandria-based Cole and Denny Architects, who designed the completely new building that is expected to last at least 25 years before it needs to be replaced. Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye was quick to point out that fact.

Supervisor Lawson took issue with the haste in which the Manassas Park option was presented to the Board of County Supervisors. “A concept worth $10 million… and completely reversing course… its something I can’t get to,” said Lawson. “It might be a great deal, a great idea. But I can’t make these big decisions on the fly that cost millions of dollars.”