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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Office of the Mayor <br /> <br />NEWS RELEASE <br />February 19, 2010 <br />1:15 p.m. <br /> <br />New city animal shelter could open by December <br /> <br />Contact: <br />Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876- <br />1564. Catherine Toppel, Director of Code Enforcement, 235-9486, or Gary Libbey, Manager of <br /> <br />Animal Control, 235-9303 <br /> <br />A Department of Code Enforcement crew headquarters will become the new South Bend <br />Animal Care and Control shelter, following unanimous support by the City’s <br />Redevelopment Commission of a $1.5-million rehabilitation and construction project. <br /> <br />South Bend Animal Care and Control has outgrown its current 17-kennel facility at 105 <br />S. Olive St., a century-old, land-locked former South Bend fire house. Since 2007, the <br />City has had architectural plans to renovate and expand an existing facility on the <br />southwest edge of Kennedy Park at 521 Eclipse Place, but no resources for development. <br /> <br />“I am proposing the use of Tax Increment Financing revenue to support the development <br />of this facility in 2010,” Mayor Stephen J. Luecke said Feb. 15 in his 2010 State of the <br />City address. “When it makes sense and meets statutory requirements, we will use TIF <br />revenue to help meet key General Fund objectives that support development.” <br /> <br />The Redevelopment Commission, which oversees TIF spending, today approved the <br />project. Construction could begin this spring with the facility’s completion by December. <br /> <br />“Animal Care and Control provides a public service, which the citizens of South Bend <br />have come to expect and appreciate since its inception in 1996,” said Catherine Toppel, <br />director of the Department of Code Enforcement, which includes Animal Care and <br />Control. The department, in partnership with CARE (Community Animal Rescue Effort) <br />of South Bend, worked with an architectural firm to remodel the existing building into a <br />9,378-square-foot shelter. The firm has designed and built several animal shelters in <br />Indiana. <br /> <br />The new facility will nearly quadruple the size of the existing space, allowing for <br /> <br />