Lake Jackson signs 20 year lease with SPCA

LAKE JACKSON — The SPCA of Brazoria County will remain in its current headquarters for the next two decades after reaching a lease agreement with the city.

The SPCA has operated the city-owned animal shelter for the last 20 years, a relationship that has been frayed at times. After Lake Jackson decided it would build a new shelter, the two sides commenced talks about allowing the SPCA to remain in the current facility.

The current lease is set to expire in 2023 and city leaders had asked the SPCA to give up the building, which they initially agreed to do, Board President Beate Damm said. The nonprofit reconsidered, however, and preferred to renovate it if it could receive a long-term lease.

“We feel that 20 years as a minimum would be something that if you were a donor would be acceptable to agree to,” Damm told council members Monday night. “Five-year-long lease or 10-year lease, just after putting $1.5 million or more into it, wouldn’t be acceptable. And now I wouldn’t be able to approve that as a board. You know, we wouldn’t be agreeable to that. So that’s why we came up with a 20-year lease term as a minimum and paying a set amount of rent and insurance or lease and insurance.”

Even though the city is building its own facility, the continued partnership with the SPCA is important to the city. Assistant City Manager Megan Borth said.

“There’s not currently anything that the city needs this building for,” she said. “We also believe that our partnership with SPCA is going to be invaluable once we open up our own facility. So this is something staff is very comfortable with and something we’re excited about moving forward.”

The plan would be for the city to operate a short-term shelter for processing lost animals and strays, then transfer them to the SPCA for long-term care and adoption services, officials have said.

“This is a team effort to help each other, but we really do think as a council, consider the fact that having us next door is going to provide — you’re new to this business, we’re not — and it will provide you with support that’s next door,” Damm said.

City Attorney Sherri Russell questioned if the city needed to be involved in any expansion plans for the facility, and if eventually the SPCA would be interested in purchasing the building. Damm agreed that is a possibility. Also, plans to expand the kennel and dog run that were mentioned are in the renovation goals, she said.

The motion was granted for the 20-year lease with five-year extensions to be determined at the end of the initial term.

Also on the agenda, $88,000 in change orders were approved for the downtown rehabilitation project. The city ran into complications when crews began working underground, which led to the unexpected costs.

So far the city has gone through 6 percent of its contingency allowance and has completed about 30 percent of the job, City Engineer Sal Aguirre said.

“The money will take us to the completion of the project,” Aguirre said.

In other news, council appointed business owner Kay Aplin to replace former mayor Joe Rinehart on the Planning Commission after he resigned.