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• Interaction rooms for families to meet with prospective pets. <br /> • A confined area to unload animals from vehicles. <br /> • A secure area for the quarantine of bite case animals. <br /> • A treatment area for sick and injured animals. <br /> • A secured area that is protected from the elements for after-hours drop-offs. <br /> • Storage space for food and other supplies. <br /> • Training, meeting and cleanup facilities for staff. <br /> "Modern animal shelters are constructed with improved disease resistant materials, and <br /> offer a less stressful environment for the animals housed there,"Libbey said. "Visitors to <br /> the shelter searching for a new or lost pet will encounter an inviting comfortable <br /> environment to find their companion." <br /> Although formal plans and cost estimates have not been finalized, rough estimates range <br /> from $1.5 million to $1.9 million. Libbey and Catherine Toppel, director of Code <br /> Enforcement, have toured other shelters with the architect responsible for their design, <br /> Thomas Farny of Grins-Felder Associates Architects. <br /> The proposed site is a former Housing Development Corp. facility that until 2006 served <br /> as a site for Code Enforcement cleanup crews. Built during the Roosevelt administration, <br /> the concrete free-standing building has no interior supporting walls, making it ideal for <br /> renovation. <br /> "We're still in the early stages," said Toppel, and once an architect is hired"official plans <br /> will be developed to give an accurate cost of a new shelter." <br /> In 1996,the Common Council appropriated $108,000 to renovate a former fire station at <br /> 135 S. Olive St. to create the shelter. Three years later, a $100,000 project reconstructed <br /> the second story to make room for cages for small animals and an area to allow family <br /> interaction with adoptive pets. <br /> South Bend Animal Control, a division of the city's Department of Code Enforcement, <br /> today handles about 4,000 animals per year. <br /> "There's a local group that's been trying to get a dog park up and running," said Libbey, <br /> who said an adjacent dog park would be worth considering after the shelter is built. "It <br /> would obviously be a nice accompaniment to the animal shelter." <br /> - 30 - <br />