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The city of Frisco is moving forward with plans for a proposed 18,101-square-foot animal shelter.
During an Oct. 6 work session, the Frisco City Council discussed options for a proposed animal shelter and agreed to pursue a facility that could accommodate limited partnerships with nearby cities.
Frisco currently uses the Collin County animal shelter to house animals.
What happened
Ken Schmidt, Frisco director of Special Projects, identified three options to meet the City Council’s goals in creating an animal shelter:
A baseline shelter addressing Frisco’s current and projected needs
A shelter exploring different facility scales and partnerships
A shelter pursuing a large-scale regional partnership with neighboring municipalities
Key criteria identified for the facility include:
Size and capacity
Construction cost
Annual operation cost
Expected revenue and net cost to city
How projected economics change if revenue assumptions don’t materialize
Benefit of building excess capacity now vs. deferring until it’s a need
The baseline shelter would provide 60 total kennels in a 14,928-square-foot facility. The expanded shelter capable of limited regional partnerships would provide 91 total kennels in an 18,101-square-foot facility. A larger regional partnership shelter would provide 194 total kennels and a livestock paddock in a 31,267-square-foot facility.
After reviewing the options, City Council members agreed to move forward on an option exploring limited regional partnerships. City documents state this option offers the most flexibility and cost efficiency while providing 61 dog kennels, 30 cat kennels and a medical isolation zone.
The details
The proposed animal shelter is estimated to cost $24 million in capital expenses, with $1.29 million in annual operating costs and $559,000 in operating revenue, according to city documents.
City documents state the proposed animal shelter poses “far less risk” than a large-scale regional partnership and provides opportunities to reduce operating and maintenance costs compared to Frisco’s current and projected needs.
By moving forward with the proposed 18,000-square-foot facility as opposed to a larger regional partnership facility, the city of Frisco will save $10 million in capital costs and $1.67 million in annual operating costs.
What they’re saying
Frisco Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rummel said operating a large-scale facility shared with cities like McKinney, Prosper and Celina would risk “biting off more than we can chew” while compromising budget integrity.
“As much as I would love to have the biggest shelter that we could possibly imagine, that’s not practical,” Rummel said. “I think [the proposed shelter] gives us the most ability to keep our operating costs at a minimum, which is where the biggest challenges on our budget come from.”
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham said a shelter exploring limited regional partnerships would more closely align with the City Council’s original vision for the facility.
“If you go back to the philosophy of what we wanted to do with this facility, we did not want to in essence become another Collin County animal shelter,” Pelham said. “I think regionalization starts to erode that mindset to where we could be looking at overpopulation, overcrowding and some of those things the Collin County animal shelter is dealing with.”
One more thing
Frisco renewed a one-year contract with the Collin County animal shelter in September. City documents state that the Collin County Animal Shelter takes in about 5,800 dogs and cats annually.
Frisco's contract with the Collin County animal shelter ends in November 2028, and the Collin County Commissioners Court recently discussed its intent not to renew a shelter service agreement with Frisco.
Schmidt said next steps include reviewing a design contract while city officials continue working on an operational agreement.
