JOHN COFFELTEditor

Architect Aaron Brown of 342 Architects working with St. John Engineering presented two options for the proposed Coffee County Animal Shelter at the Feb. 1 Capital Outlay Committee meeting.

The preproposal scales back some of the drawings to postpone building a number or animal runs and possible extras like a veterinary clinic until second phase of construction can be financed.

“We dug in a little bit more and trying to make (the basic conceptual design) more a working design,” Brown said about the options presented to the committee. “We are very early in the process…”

The first option is involves is a bid of a more developed, working document that continues with many of the features originally presented to the 20 runs on the stray animal wing and 20 additional on the adoptable animal wing.

“Looking at option two, it seems to make it in my mind a little more economical on the construction standpoint side,” Brown said. That option will retain a quarantine feature.

“The reality of the situation is that I don’t know many municipalities that has the funds to build the facility that they need the first time,” Brown said.

“Looking at the reality of it, how we start to plan or phase the building (so) it meets our needs today. We know it’s not going to meet our needs in the future. How do we plan for your expansion,” he said.

Brown said planning involves finding the balance between designing an efficient building for today that will be easily expandable in the future.

“The next step is looking at the needs today, and looking at the project budget…and finding a happy medium,” Brown said.

“Obviously at the end of the day, we want a nice facility for the county, but it has to meet the needs and meet the budget, he said.

The firm will meet with county animal control Director Craig Boyd, County Mayor Judd Matheny and any relevant stakeholders to address the needs for the shelter before moving ahead.

Matheny said that he has been conferring with his peers in Franklin County on its progress building a new animal shelter.

“They only had one bid, and it was my understanding that it was about 70% more than what they’d been planning,” Matheny said.

Brown said that he had collaborated with Scot St. John, whose firm enlisted 342 Architects’ services for the project, and the two came to the conclusion that the scope of the original plans would likely exceed the budget for the project.

“Just off the cuff, we think we’re going to have to shrink it, and what’s the best way to shrink it. That’s when option two came about,” Brown said.

Acting chairman, Committee Secretary Frank Watkins voiced concerns if the second phase had just more runs or included addition rooms.

Phase two of option two includes the potential procedure room for spay/neutering and a pre-operation room and storage space, along with additional kennels.

Matheny said that he hopes to find additional donations that would allow for the clinic space.

Matheny asked for the firms to work out an estimate on potential utility costs for the facility. Those figures will be helpful in forecasting a budget for the future.

St. John said that the HVAC units are different from the ones used in more traditional buildings.

“That will factor in on the operational costs,” St. John said.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.