TREMONT, Ill. (WMBD) — Tazewell County Animal Control broke ground on their brand-new facility on Thursday, Sept. 1,8 at 4:30 p.m.
The new location is adjacent to the current location at 21314 State Route 9 in Tremont. It will be an estimated 9,400 square feet, nearly double the size of the current location.
Director of the Tazewell County Animal Control Libby Aeschleman said this new facility was a long time coming.
“It’s history in the making, I can’t say it any better than that, it’s a brand-new thing, it’s needed done for a long time, and it’s going to benefit a lot of people and animals,” Aeschleman said.
The new facility will also expand its outdoor exercise area.
So the small space that we have right now, for one outdoor run, we plan to over triple that.” She said. “We’ll have multiple outdoor areas, areas where the public can interact with adoptable dogs that they’re interested in taking home so they can get to know them.”
Executive Vice President of P.J. Hoerr construction firm, John Sutherland, said that there were many problems with the current facility.
“So, the existing facility, there’s a lack of space, overcrowding, and poor ventilation,” Sutherland said.
The reason for not updating and expanding the current facility came down to cost Aeschleman said.
“So just over two and a half years ago, we started with the idea that we would refurbish and update the housing in the current facility,” She said. “We quickly, realized that the building wasn’t going to be up to par and that putting money into the old facility wasn’t going to be the most financially responsible thing.”
The new building will cost around 3.5 million dollars and is expected to be completed by March of 2026.
The current facility will remain open, and all current services will continue until the new building is finished.
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