City Council placed the two propositions–totaling $20.2 million–on the Nov. 3 ballot after city staff recommended the projects from a larger list evaluated by a bond committee, City Manager Brandon Wade said.
“While all the proposed bond projects are essential, these two [projects] are the ones I recommend we move forward on now,” Wade said. “The shelter is why we considered a bond, and now the high school location and new homes along Weiss Lane are creating roadway demands.”
Proposed animal shelter design[/caption]Animal shelter
The existing animal shelter off Immanuel Road opened in 1986 and does not comply with state standards for shelter facilities, Wade said. It has the capacity for around 114 animals, not including a storage shed that is scheduled to be converted into an animal holding area later this year, said Lt. Laura Wilkes, who oversees the shelter for the Pflugerville Police Department.
Before voting to include an animal shelter proposal on November’s ballot, Council Member Victor Gonzales noted that City Council considered an animal shelter bond item a decade ago but decided to fund the project another way.
“Since that time there’s really been nothing but Band-Aids and patchwork to the animal shelter,” he said. “I think it’s time for us as a city to give the citizens an opportunity to decide whether Pflugerville is at that crossroads to embrace an animal shelter that I would call a ‘Class A’ animal shelter.”
The proposed shelter would be a 28,800-square-foot facility located at Lake Pflugerville. It would include lake parking, a veterinary services area, a police substation and community meeting spaces in addition to 188 high-quality kennels for cats and dogs, according to design documents from Quorum Architects.
Quorum architect Kim Dowdy said in an email that her firm has designed more than 30 animal shelters and animal services facilities throughout the state and produced several designs for Pflugerville based on state and national regulations and guidelines, best practices, and analysis of operations at the existing city shelter.
“Quorum looked at operational aspects such as animal intake, processing, care, medical procedures and disposal as well as public accessibility, safety, comfort, training and the adoption process,” she said. “We then began gathering and evaluating existing data to help make projections for the needs assessment, looking at current needs and projected future needs based on population projections through 2025.”
The animal shelter proposition appearing on November’s ballot is based on the most comprehensive and expensive of four design options Quorum presented to City Council.
In addition to a $10.5 million facility, Quorum recommended approximately 24 employees to staff the shelter, Dowdy said. There are currently nine animal control staff, with four more expected within the next year, Wilkes said.
Before the City Council voted on the bond election items, Pflugerville Mayor Jeff Coleman expressed his disapproval of the animal shelter proposition.
“My opinion is [the animal shelter design proposals] are all too expensive,” he said. “If this passes we will unquestionably be putting the needs of our animals over the needs of our residents.”
Coleman said that, if built, the new animal shelter would be the most expensive building in the city aside from the police department, and the cost would break down to approximately $975 per animal annually taken into the new shelter. By contrast, the city spends approximately $415 per person annually in its senior programs, Coleman said.
Barbara Woodworth of Pflugerville said she does not believe the needs of Pflugerville seniors and the animal shelter needs are mutually exclusive.
“I don’t think the animal shelter has stopped [funding for seniors], and unfortunately by voting down the animal shelter you’re not going to get that $10 million applied to [seniors],” she said. “My husband is a senior and disabled, so I understand the concern and I do think it’s an infrastructure the city should be looking at. I thought it was wrong of the city to pit one group of citizens against each other. We should be working together to prioritize all the improvements.”
Weiss Lane
Last November, Pflugerville voters approved bond funding for Weiss Lane improvements that Wade refers to as safety enhancements. The 2014 bond project, currently underway, will add shoulders and turn lanes at major intersections as well as bridge upgrades, with the final product being a two-way rural roadway with open side ditches for drainage, City Engineer Dan Franz said.If approved by voters, the 2015 bond proposal of $9.5 million would expand Weiss Lane—from Kelly Lane to Wilbarger Creek bridge—into a four-lane divided road with curbs and drainage gutters, Franz said. South of Pflugerville Parkway, the project would allow for future expansion to six lanes, he said.
Franz said turning Weiss into a four-lane roadway north of Pflugerville Parkway falls under goals outlined in Pflugerville’s master transportation plan. In council meetings, staff and officials noted that planned development east of SH 130 could increase traffic on the road.
“The staff recommends to focus on Weiss Lane partly because of the lake improvements that are forthcoming, partly because of the anticipated animal shelter if that is successful but primarily that’s where our growth is occurring [...] and then finally high school No. 4 that is going to be imminently under construction opening for the 2017-18 academic year,” Assistant City Manager Trey Fletcher said.
Part of Weiss is under Travis County jurisdiction, and the majority of the current Weiss project—about $6.73 million—is being funded by the county, Franz said.
“[Weiss] is like a checkerboard,” he said. “Portions of it are entirely in the city, portions of it are in the county and some of it is divided down the middle.”
Pflugerville resident Melody Ryan said she opposes the new Weiss bond proposition because there are other streets located more centrally within Pflugerville in need of repair.
“Even if there weren’t things that needed attention, I don’t believe this road is needed now. [The surrounding area] is farmland; it’s grass,” she said. “[The frequent users of Weiss] aren’t even taxpayers, and they’re getting a roadway before other areas of the city where taxpayers are using the road on a daily basis.”
Before voting on the 2015 bond propositions, Council Member Brad Marshall said some of the Pflugerville residents who will be using Weiss frequently will be teenagers—many of them new drivers—on their way to the city’s new high school.
“The other reason for [considering Weiss improvements] is the number of Pflugerville kids that will end up going to that school,” he said. “The argument of not improving Weiss Lane when we’ve got our own high school students driving down that road spooks me some.”
