HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/13/2001 Tuesday,March 13,2001
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Ana Casimano,President
North Fork Animal Welfare League
P.O.Box 297
Southold,New York 11971
Re: Municipal Animal Shelter for the Town of Southold
And operated by the North Fork Animal Welfare League
Dear Ms. Casimano
Per the request of the North Fork Animal Welfare League I spent two days at the Southold Animal
Care facilities off of Peconic investigating the existing facilities, the process the town and league
are going through in expanding the existing facilities,the preliminary plans that have already been
developed, and interviewing staff and League Board members. At the conclusion of those two
days,I made a presentation to the Southold Town Board outlining my general findings. Below is
a detailed review of those findings. They are broken down into three categories, the process, the
existing facility and the proposed preliminary plan. A final summary with recommendations will
conclude this report.
THE PROCESS
1. It was apparent from the initial meeting that there was not a consensus between those
operating the facility and the town staff and board. It is necessary that the final product have
the consensus of those involved and hopefully the community. A facility that does not have
the support of those who operate it,maintain it or finance it will face difficulties with staffing,
morale,staff and community support,and meeting the needs of the community.
2. It appears from my observations that shortcuts were taken in the process to reach a quick and
cheap conclusion. The process has not been completed to a point that would allow for an
intelligent conclusion. The design of the facility will have a large impact on operation of the
facility and the ease of maintenance.A poorly designed facility that is difficult for the staff to
operate within and difficult to maintain; or constructed of materials that are not durable and
not designed for animal care facilities, is costly to both the town and the league.
3. The project started out with a task force and then ended before a proper conclusion was
reached. The best organizational structure to work within during this process is a task force
made up of a Town Board member(shelter liaison), someone from the town staff in planning
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Bradley & Associates
Architecture,Project Management,Development Consulting&Planning
3141 Main Street, Second Floor
Kansas City, Missouri,64111
(816)471-0044 Fax (816)753-8811
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or engineering, someone from the town staff who has knowledge of financing and the options
available, someone with first hand knowledge of the cost of operating and maintaining the
facilities,the Executive Director of the Facility, someone from the facilities staff dealing with
day to day operations, the facilities animal behaviorist, an independent facilitator who has an
understanding of animal shelters, and an architect who has experience working with animal
care facilities. It is very important that an independent facilitator or architect assist in the
planning process instead of relying from someone within the group. Everyone involved with
this issue brings their own perspective to the table. An expert in dealing with animal care
facilities and unrelated to the project can keep the process going in the right direction and in a
timely fashion. This task force then should have the responsibility of preparing the Mission,
Vision, Values and Goals of the facility; the Strategic Plan; and the Long Range Plan (5, 10,
and 20 year plans). It is necessary to look at how this facility can evolve in an orderly fashion
in the future instead of piecemeal. Piecemeal expansion with out a clear plan will inevitably
lead to a disorganized facility that will cost more to staff and maintain.
4. One of the shortcomings that were obvious in looking at the proposed preliminary plan was
that there had been no program developed during the process. The program is critical in the
design process. Once the Strategic Plan and Long Range Planning are completed then a
program for the design of the facility has to be developed. In order to prepare the program,
services, operational programs, and the number, type and condition of animals passing
through the facility need to be understood. The program then is a response to those issues and
defines spaces, size of spaces,relationship between spaces, fixtures, furniture, equipment,and
systems that will be required to meet the requirements outlined in the strategic planning
process.
THE EXISTING FACILITY
1. The roof structure appears to be wood framed. There are signs of severe wood deterioration
thou hout the
facility. It is very
E= likely that the
wood roof trusses
or framing will
` also have severe
P. deterioration. The
use of wood in a
shelter, especially
" in the kennel
areas is not
recommended
because it is sub-
=: jected to high
humidity. The
high humidity is a
1130-201.doc 2
Bradley & Associates
Architecture, Project Management Development Consulting&Planning
3141 Main Street,Second Floor
Kansas City, Missouri,64111
(816)471-0044 Fax (816)753-8811
result of the constant washing that is required to keep the facility clean and control disease.
2. In addition to the wood framing of the roof,there are other areas where wood has been used in
the facility. The photo above shows an area where wood blocking was used above a door and
has severely deteriorated. There are several areas around the facility where the wood is in
similar condition.
3. The Concrete Block(CMU)exterior walls are falling apart. Walking through the kennels
there are numerous places where
you can see daylight through
cracks in the walls (see photo to
the left). It is not presently an
unsafe condition but it does make
it impossible to properly heat and
cool the space and keep it dry.
This will greatly effect the cost of
utilities to operate the facility.
Most of these cracks can be
1 tuckpointed but I would be
concerned about the overall
construction of the building. It
appears that tuckpointing would
only be a temporary fix because
of the condition of the footings.
See Item#5 below.
4. The steel lintels over the
= guillotine doors are showing
S„C
extreme rusting and need to be
_ replaced.
. �_ 5. Right at the horizontal line of the
steel lintels of the guillotine doors
in the concrete block there is a
horizontal crack over a large
portion of the building. This
would indicate some uneven settlement in the footings. We would typically recommend that
the footings be raised and mudjacked. I would first want to investigate if the footing were
correctly constructed with the proper frost depth, reinforcing and footing size for the bearing
capacity of the soil. The footings are not carrying heavy loads. If there is settlement problems
I would suspect that the footings were not properly constructed or are very inadequate. Again
we would suggest that any fix here would only be temporary.
1130-2O1.doc 3
Bradley & Associates
Architecture,Project Management Development Consulting&Planning
3141 Main Street,Second Floor
Kansas City, Missouri,64111
(816)471-0044 Fax (816)753-8811
6. The concrete floors have had considerable settlement. This would indicate either that the
correct fill material under the slab was not used or was not properly compacted during
construction. Topping the floor slab as has been suggested is only a temporary fix under these
circumstances. This also relates to the problems the footings are showing.
7. There are several A/C window units located throughout the facility. These window units are
very ineffective way to cool a space. Most often proper ventilation will keep the kennels
relatively comfortable without the expense of installing and operating a cooling system. The
kennels require a very high cfm (cubic feet per minute) of ventilation, which is not currently
being provided.
S. The central floor drain is absolutely the worst way to provide for sanitary drainage from the
kennels. The kennel attendant has to
s, flush the kennels out into the middle
{ " of the floor. This is labor intensive
`ohs: and makes it very difficult to control
disease. With a central floor drain the
Y. i '_�' floors are constantly wet and easy to
' = track any type of contamination from
area. It i
area to a ea s only due to the
tremendous effort of the staff that
�y there has not been a serious outbreak
of disease in the facility. The
conditions the staff has to operate in
make this nearly impossible. The
staffing requirements for a facility
such as this are higher because of the
V inefficiencies and condition of the
space. The staff is going to spend a
i; great deal of their time just trying to
y = keep the facility together and clean
than they do caring for the animals.
' These conditions the staff have to
work in also increases their exposure
to zoonotic diseases, something the
town should be very concerned about.
This could increase the town's
exposure to litigation. (I have
attached an article on zoonotic
diseases for your reference). Not only
is it important that the facilities are
designed to meet the needs of the animals but most importantly address the health, safety and
welfare of the caregivers.
1130.2O1.doc 4
Bradley & Associates
Architecture Project Management Development Consulting&Planning
3141 Main Street,Second Floor
Kansas City, Missouri,64111
(816)471-0044 Fax (816)753-8811
9. I understand from my interviews with the staff that the septic tank system will back up into
the kennels occasionally. This is an extremely serious problem exposing the staff and the
animals to this waste material. The town should be extremely concerned about this issue and
should be a matter discussed regarding risk management.
10. The stall dividers are very inadequate. The stall dividers are chain link fences with a solid
sheet metal panel on the lower half. There is a gap between the bottom rail of the chain link
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fencing and the floor that allows waste to easily pass from one stall to the other. This allows
for easy cross contamination. It is important in the control of disease in a shelter to provide
solid partitions between stalls. We recommend that all the stall dividers be removed and
replaced with a concrete block partition 4' high with chain link fencing on top of the dividers.
11. On the exterior of the kennel several general maintenance items that have never been taken
care of now need total replacement. The sills at the guillotine doors are deteriorating with
rusting reinforcing and spalling concrete. These areas are impossible to keep clean.
12. The fascias have not been painted and in some areas are already showing signs of
deterioration and rotting. Fascia boards need to be painted and replaced where rotted.
t
1130.201.doc 5
Bradley & Associates
Architecture, Project Management Development Consulting&Planning
3141 Main Street,Second Floor
Kansas City, Missouri, 64111
(816)471-0044 Fax (816)753-8811