City of Sarnia, humane society trading land

City hall and the Sarnia and District Humane Society have agreed to swap land.

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“We’re talking about a 1.5-acre (0.6 hectare) land exchange” said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.

Talks have been happening between the city and the humane society since around February, Bradley said.

The main issue has been the city’s estimated $20.6-million, 1.5-kilometer planned Wellington Street extension to Blackwell Side Road, key in a plan to build up the city’s 570-hectare (1,408-acre) Development Area 2, Bradley said.

Plans for the road extension, and humane society plans to build a new shelter — on a two-hectare (five-acre) parcel the humane society purchased for about $700,000 in 2023, at the southeast corner of Modeland Road and Wellington Street — were not lining up, Bradley and humane society board of directors president Bob Farlow said.

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But talks on those and other subjects recently reached a breakthrough, they said.

The city “gave us some of the land they own to the south, and we will give up some of the land that we own to the north, in order for them to allow the extension of Wellington Street,” Farlow said.

Legal representatives for the city and the humane society are still working out the details, including regarding development costs, he said.

“Both sides are trying to help each other out,” he said.

“I guess that’s the best way to put it.”

The humane society approached city council in April 2021 about building a new shelter beside its existing site in Centennial Park.

The 1980s-constructed building at 131 Exmouth St. is undersized to meet demand, and requires costly structural, kennel and ventilation system upgrades that make building new about the same costand the most attractive option, council heard almost four years ago.

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The location changed after the land purchase in 2023.

Humane society executive director Donna Pyette estimated about a year ago building new at Wellington Street and Modeland Road would cost between $3 million and $3.5 million.

That cost is likely increased, Farlow said.

Details about the floor plan are still evolving, he said.

But humane society officials are anxious to get moving on the new project, he said.

“It will be nice to get a new building, state of the art building, where we can help out the animals as best we can, and the staff will be in a much more comfortable environment,” he said.

A fundraising campaign for the project is ongoing, but hasn’t been advertised in earnest, he said, pending site details being finalized.

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There’s “lots of supporters already,” Farlow said.

He wasn’t able to specify immediately the sum raised so far and said he wasn’t comfortable estimating.

Council has agreed for the city to cover “minimal costs” associated with the land transfer, Bradley said, calling it “a sign of goodwill to get this project moving.

The gesture is “just trying to wrap this up and let (the humane society) get into their fundraising,” he said.

A $1-per-year lease the humane society signed with the City of Sarnia for the land in Centennial Park in 1980 was extended years ago until 2040.

The existing shelter will be demolished and the land restored at the humane society’s expense after the new facility is built, Pyette has said.

Previously announced aspects of the new shelter design have included a self-serve dog wash station, a veterinary surgical unit for animals in the humane society’s care, a pet supply store, and a cat cafe, where people can order coffee while shelter cats roam the space.

A city waterfront master plan suggests residential towers for the northwest section of the park, where the existing shelter stands.

Council more than a year ago agreed to look further into that possibility.

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