Township officials move on new animal shelter
After years of delays, 5-year-old 'temporary shelter' to be replaced
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE - State Sen. and interim Mayor Joseph Vitale wasn't prepared for what he saw when he visited the township animal shelter during last month's heat wave.

"We were stunned," he said. "The temperature outside was over 100 degrees. And the air conditioner in the shelter wasn't doing an adequate job."

Vitale didn't waste any time. He ordered a commercial-grade air-conditioning unit and air-exchange system the same day. Public works employees upgraded the electrical service and installed the new system the next day.

"The conditions were just too difficult for the animals," said Vitale, (D-19th District.) "It was about 100 degrees that day. The conditions were just unbearable. The folks in [township] animal control were doing the best they could."

And if all goes well, construction could start on a long-needed new animal shelter by the end of October, he said.

The new shelter will have 18 dog runs, 40 to 50 spaces for cats, temporary cages and storage facilities, he said.

The township will advertise for bids Sept. 1. The bids will be opened Sept. 22 and awarded Sept. 26, Vitale said.

"We want to get the foundations and the footings in as soon as possible," he said.

The new facility will be "state-of-the-art" and will include an air-exchange system, Vitale said.

"The air has to be exchanged at a certain prescribed cycle to keep it fresh and to prevent airborne bacterial illnesses," he said. "It will have that capacity. It will meet or exceed the recommended rate of exchange."

The current 30-by-40-foot structure was built five years ago in the middle of tank farms and the collapsing buildings of an old arsenic-producing chemical plant in Sewaren.

It houses up to 12 dogs and 30 cats. The state Office of Animal Welfare found 20 violations over a seven-month period in 2005. No fines were levied, however, because then-Mayor Frank G. Pelzman, who died June 29, had pledged to have a new shelter up and running by 2006.

The estimated $500,000 price tag township officials set aside for the facility last year hasn't changed, Vitale said.

Council President Patricia Osborne said part of the delay stemmed from the fact that no one bid on previous site plans that had gone out to bid.

"I wish it was done yesterday, believe me," Osborne said.

Vitale also wants to develop an expanded foster pet program, along with the new shelter.