St. Clair County’s new Animal Control building may cost $16M. Here’s what’s included

The price of a new St. Clair County Animal Control building could total $16 million by the time construction is completed, according to county officials.

St. Clair County has been planning to construct a new building since dogs and cats had to be evacuated from the existing facility during recent major floods .

The current animal control building at 1250 S. 11th St. is prone to flooding because it sits in a low-lying area near a creek. The new location is about four miles northwest at 1123 Comwest Parkway in Belleville off of Illinois 15.

The Public Building Commission , which manages county-owned properties, approved a resolution at its meeting Thursday that will allow it to issue bonds to cover some of the costs. The St. Clair County Board also allocated $4.3 million of its COVID-19 relief money toward the project.

To date, $1.9 million has been spent:

• $712,500 to purchase the land from the Diocese of Belleville in June 2023

• $48,375 contract with Animal Arts for consulting services in March

• $80,377 contracts with Millennia Professional Services for engineering services in April

• $677,000 contract with Woolpert Architecture LLC for architectural services including renderings of their design in May

• $440,000 amendment to Woolpert Architecture’s contract in September

St. Clair County Buildings Director Jim Brede and Bill Reichert, the architectural and planning adviser for the Public Building Commission, said Thursday that $16 million is their latest estimate for the total cost of the project.

Reichert said part of the reason for that price tag is that construction costs have increased 36% over the last three years. The county also wants to improve on what it had before, according to Brede.

The new facility will include a surgical suite, which means less moving animals around for their care. The county’s consultant on the project, Colorado-based company Animal Arts, also recommended animal wellness features be included in the design.

Among the new features are:

• Outdoor play areas for exercise, including cat enclosures

• Kennels that are twice as big and arranged so that none of the animals face each other to avoid stress

• Heated floors and natural light in kennel areas

• Piped-in music specifically for cats and for dogs

“It should be about as stress free as we can get it,” Reichert said of the design.

The Public Building Commission is currently accepting bids for construction of the new building; it expects to choose a contractor by Nov. 21, when the board meets next.