The Guelph Humane Society (GHS) is one step closer to a new home after city council voted Monday night to allow the shelter to purchase 2.7 acres of land near Hanlon Parkway and Laird Road.
GHS has been operating out of their current location at 500 Wellington St. W for over 45 years and is on city-owned land next to Guelph’s wastewater treatment plant. There are plans to expand the plant and that means the shelter will be bulldozed in the coming years.
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“It’s really exciting for us,” said GHS Executive Director Adrienne McBride in a phone interview with CJOY News on Tuesday. “500 Wellington St. W has been a good home for us and it’s served its purpose and it doesn’t owe us anything else. We’re really excited to move to a new location and implement some of those best practices, and innovation and research.”
The unanimous vote by city council Monday night was to waive their option to purchase the land from a numbered company and approve GHS’s purchase of the land.
The project is still being designed but is estimated to cost about $5 million, which will come through various fundraising efforts in the community.
“We have no doubt the community will be supportive, but now is the time for us to start that fundraising campaign,” McBride said.
It’s also a race against time because GHS has to be out of their current location by the end of next year, but McBride said there are plans in place in case the new facility is not ready by then.
“It is really difficult for us to consider temporary housing because of the nature of the work that we do, so we’d need really specific housing,” she said.