Dear Partner in Rescue,
We are very excited to tell you that we have reached another significant milestone in our progress of a new kennel building – we just obtained site plan approval from the town of Wallkill Planning Board to move forward with the project! This has been a long time coming with starts and stops because of COVID-19, but we now have a clear path forward to create a new healthy, safe and exciting environment for our dogs, staff members, volunteers, adopters, and visitors!
Here are highlights of our progress.
In late 2019, we worked on developing a detailed site plan to go forward to the town of Wallkill Planning Board for site approval. We submitted our final site plan to the town board in early February 2020, and on March 9, 2020, we met with a subcommittee of the planning board to begin discussions about our plans.
After the March meeting, we were invited to attend the March 18, 2020, formal Wallkill Planning Board meeting to present our case to the entire board. Unfortunately, the meeting was in parallel to the shutdowns due to COVID-19; therefore, the planning board had to cancel that meeting.
Once the planning board moved to Zoom meetings, we were scheduled for April 15, 2020, when we first presented our plan. We had multiple requirements that the board needed us to complete from the building’s size, creating a lighting plan, doing a perc test, finalizing a septic plan – and other tasks. This took us a lengthy period of time to complete.
The final step, once we met those requirements, was a public hearing. On the evening of March 17, 2021, we attended our public hearing at the town Planning Board meeting. We invited neighbors based on a list that the town of Wallkill provided us who live within a certain perimeter of the shelter to participate in the meeting and offer any feedback or concerns. The meeting went well – and the town approved our site plan!
This approval means that we can now move forward with the project! We have many steps to go before we break ground, but this was a critical step to obtain. We thank the town of Wallkill Planning board and others who helped us at the town to achieve this accomplishment.
You can check out our conceptual design of the building’s layout and site plan, which details where we will situate the new building on our property on our website. Once we complete the new building, we will remove the current building.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to us at board@petsalive.org. Thank you for following us on our journey and being a part of it! We will continue to keep you updated as the project progresses.
Thank you for your patience and your support!
From the Pets Alive Board of Directors
Fancy Fajita, available for adoption, is very excited about the new building!
Hercules, available for adoption, is also very excited about the new building!