April 29, 2008 09:54 pm
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By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
The board of directors of the Joplin Humane Society will announce Thursday that a location for a new shelter has been found.
The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. on North Main Street Road at Emperor Lane, north of what formerly was the Dents and Dings appliance store.
Diane Sharits, executive director of the society, declined to say Tuesday if that will be the new location, but an organization statement said a bulldozer would be at the property and that a sign would be erected.
The event also is planned to celebrate the shelter’s 60 years of service to Joplin.
Sharits and the president of the board, Richard Copeland, declined to talk about the announcement, saying they did not intend for the information to be made public until after the event on Thursday. The information came from an announcement titled as a “media invitation” to the ceremony.
The organization has been looking for land to build a $5.3 million animal shelter and visitors center. The board wanted a location convenient to Joplin, its largest customer, but also for Carl Junction and Webb City, towns also served by the shelter.
A deal for the city to lease land owned by the Joplin Regional Airport on Highway 171, across from the airport entrance, to the Humane Society fell apart in February when the City Council rejected an option agreement on the land.
The proposal was rejected because it called for the city to pay $21,000 a year in lease payments for the land. The lease payments would have increased over time.
There had been some discussion of giving the Humane Society part of Dover Hill Park, but the Humane Society rejected that proposal after residents in the Roanoke neighborhood near the park objected. Some residents said the city should not give away park land for a private purpose even though the shelter is a nonprofit operation.
Current location
The shelter’s current site at 4400 N. Swede Lane, officials say, is too small for the number of animals it takes care of each year. The Humane Society board wants a modern building that is more easily sanitized and equipped to encourage visitors and adoptions.
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