New Animal Control facility under discussion

A proposal for a new Northern Oklahoma Animal Care Facility for Animal Control has entered the discussion stage with Ponca City’s Board of Commissioners.

During Monday’s work session, the board heard from Police Chief Don Bohon, who presented photographs and drawings of a property at 705 East Hubbard Road that has been recommended as a possible location of an expanded Animal Control location.

At present, the interior of the building is gutted and it needs a new roof, Bohon said.

The current Animal Control building is 4,400 square feet and was last renovated in 1962, Bohon said. The proposed locati9on is 6,400 square feet and has space for more kennels, as well as outdoor runs, garage space for the Animal Control vehicles, and space for larger animals, such as pigs or horses.

The current Animal Control location holds 24 kennels, and the proposed location could hold up to 36 kennels, plus outdoor space.

The Hubbard Road location is a concrete building and has a circle drive in the front.

One of the major appeals is a $250,000 donation that would go toward the purchase of the property, Bohon said. That figure is about one-third of the cost of purchasing and renovating the property.

City Commissioners discussed the possibility of the facility being used for North Central Oklahoma, including Newkirk, Tonkawa, Blackwell and other Kay County locations.

No action was taken at Monday’s work session, other than commissioners agreeing  to move forward in discussions about the location and recognizing the time limit to secure the donation that would make the project possible.

A diagram of  the site location on Hubbard Road.