SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Sarah Hunt and Becca Kroeger were bouncing with joy Tuesday night when council unanimously voted in favour of allowing the NWT SPCA to purchase a lot in the Engle Business District for an animal shelter.

Sarah Hunt, a director for the NWT SPCA, hangs out with Amilia, an eight-month-old pup from Dettah, at the Great Slave Animal Hospital. Hunt is excited that the SPCA is one step closer to acquiring a piece of land to build an animal shelter that will take pressure off the overcrowded animal hospital. - Nicole Veerman/NNSL photo

"Yay for us and yay for you," said Hunt, who has been a director with the organization for seven years.

"We are very excited to hear this and I'm actually shocked that this is where this meeting was going tonight. We had no idea."

Hunt was surprised because she and Kroeger had only just presented to council that afternoon during the Municipal Service Committee meeting, requesting two lots in the Engle Business District be donated to the SPCA free of cost.

During the meeting, councillors expressed their support for the organization's efforts to build a much-needed animal shelter in the city, but all agreed that it wasn't possible for the city to donate the lots.

"You're sort of speaking to the converted, having adopted one of your foster dogs," said city councillor Amanda Mallon. "The issue is, of course, if we give the land to you without cost then we do have other organizations that we could be setting a precedent that as council we would have to deal with."

Mallon suggested that instead of donating the two lots, worth more than $400,000, administration come up with an affordable payment plan. With support from the rest of council, administration went to work on the request immediately after the committee meeting and had a new recommendation for council to approve that evening.

"I would like to congratulate both parties for working so quickly," said Coun. Bob Brooks at the council meeting. "When we had asked that administration work with the NWT SPCA quickly on this, so we could get it through, I was not expecting that to mean a couple of hours. That was real quick."

The agreement that was reached and unanimously supported by council, was for one lot in the Engle Business District, worth $200,560, plus GST.

The SPCA will have to pay a 15 per cent deposit, which is equal to about $30,000, with the remainder of the cost being paid over 15 years.

"I think this is definitely doable for us. Of course we have to bring it back to our board of directors and our shelter committee, but I am definitely excited about it and we can do this, for sure," said Hunt.

Also included in the purchase and development agreement, is a first right of refusal for the second lot that the SPCA was interested in. That means, if another party comes to the city requesting to buy the land, the SPCA will have an opportunity to purchase it first.

"Thank you very much for giving us the option for right of first refusal because we do hope we win the lottery and are able to purchase right out in cash the second lot," joked Hunt.

The SPCA has had its sights set on building a shelter in Yellowknife since late last year when Nicole Spencer, president of the NWT SPCA, entered the organization in a national competition, put on by Aviva Canada, that provides funding for community projects.

After thousands of votes were registered in support of the project, the SPCA was awarded the top prize of $300,000 to put toward the shelter.

Becca Kroeger, an architect intern for Pin/Taylor Architects, volunteered to design the building, which she said "was designed with our furry friends in mind."

She said construction will begin on the 3,000-square-foot building as soon as a development permit is in hand.

The SPCA currently has $470,000, between the funds from the competition and an outpouring of donations from the community. Construction of the shelter, which will house 45 dogs and nine cats, will cost approximately $600,000, according to an estimate from project developer Clark Builders.

Aviva has given the SPCA a deadline of Dec. 15, 2011 to have at least a substantial portion of the shelter built, said Kroeger, who also noted that the $300,000 won't be released to the SPCA from the fund until a piece of land is acquired.

There are only three animal shelters in operation in the NWT, one in Hay River, another in Fort Smith and Yellowknife's Great Slave Animal Hospital.

Hunt said a new facility is desperately needed to accommodate the increasing number of abandoned, abused and unwanted dogs in the North.

"The stray animal population doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The shelter is overflowing," she said, noting that since September 2010 the SPCA has rescued and sent 90 dogs to shelters down south because there's nowhere to house them in the NWT.

"The NWT SPCA shelter will be more than a roof over their heads," said Kroeger. "The abandoned and unwanted animals of Yellowknife will have a home that is designed to nurture and help them in their rehabilitation so they are ready for their new home."

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