The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen could get its first glimpse at plans for the city’s new animal shelter by the end of July, Community Development Director Jeff Richardson said.

“It’s getting close; we should be wrapping things up and getting the construction documents pretty soon,” said Richardson, who with animal shelter Director Kacie Lindsey has been working with project architect Michael Bernard of Arlington, Texas-based Animal Shelters of America to develop a new shelter on a property at 4845 U.S. Highway 61 South.

Richardson said he and Lindsey met with Bernard at the start of the summer to discuss the project.

The board in January hired Bernard and Animal Shelters of America to design the shelter on property donated to the city by the Ernest Thomas family to build the animal shelter. The property has an existing building that will be used for the shelter. The project cost is estimated at $1.4 million.

According to a preliminary floor plan for the shelter accompanying the agreement, the building will include animal receiving and grooming areas, separate medical isolation areas for cats and dogs, an area for puppies and small dog breeds, a total of 15 dog runs and a customer service area and lobby.

“It feels good to know we’re finally going to get a new shelter,” Lindsey said.

City officials have been considering a new animal shelter for several years. The current shelter is more than 50 years old and sits on a tract of land on Old Mill Road adjacent to the Vicksburg Fire Department’s training center in the Kings community.

The shelter has in the past had problems with overcrowding, but Lindsey said there has been relief at the shelter through rescues and pet adoptions.

The current shelter is in a flood zone and subject to being surrounded by flash flooding. It was threatened by the 2019 flood and animals had to be evacuated in the 2011 flood. City officials considered several potential sites, including city property in a section of Cedar Hill Cemetery off Sky Farm Avenue.

On Feb. 21, 2020, Flaggs, other city officials and city resident Marilyn Terry, who provided a recommendation for a shelter building, toured the former U.S. Rubber Reclaiming plant off U.S. 61 South, which is owned by the city and located in a flood zone, and a site in the 2100 block of Oak Street, south of Depot Street.

Problems with the Oak Street property forced city officials to remove the site from consideration. In August of this year, the board considered a 14.3-acre tract at 4211 Rifle Range Road owned by Cappaert Holdings LLP, but the city was unable to afford the $1.5 million to buy the land and build the shelter.

The Thomas family offered to donate the property and metal building on U.S. 61 South in September 2020.