Winnemucca City Manager/Engineer Steve West and City Fire Chief Alan Olsen presented recently presented site plans to the regional planning commission.
Fire House
The fire house is to be located at 11078 E. Winnemucca Blvd.
Planning Commissioner Ray Olsen asked whether the building was two-phase.
"We have planned a second phase, we're not sure we'll need to do that in the near future; the building is designed to be expanded in one direction should we ever need to go to a full-time fire department," explained West.
Ray Olsen wondered how many firemen might be part of a full-time fire department. Alan Olsen said it depends on the growth and the size of the city.
West noted the future curb, gutters and sidewalks along the site are part of a grant project underway for the entire length of East Winnemucca Boulevard from Haskell Street to the New Vision development.
"We are moving forward with the design at this point and the money is in place," said West. "There may be a slight delay between when this building is completed and when the curb, gutter, sidewalk project is completed, but it's committed."
The work that's going on at the site is the foundation of the building, utility connections and driveways. The building is scheduled for completion this fall.
Animal Control
West also brought forward a conditional use permit application for the new animal control facility planned for the Sage Heights area.
Planning Commissioner Lewis Trout noted the requirement the new animal control facility not create a noise disturbance. He said some people have had concerns about noise generated by the dogs when they're outside the building. He also wondered whether noise from the dogs would be a problem at night.
West said the city has responded to two residents of the Sage Heights subdivision who asked whether the noise would be worse in the new location.
"We showed them the site plan and they both seemed pretty satisfied, once they saw the layout, that in the new location the noise will actually be reduced," said West.
He said the existing animal control facility is in a direct line of sight to the houses, so the sound travels directly as well.
Although the new facility is a little nearer the homes, West said there are existing buildings between the subdivision and the animal control building. He added the south side of the facility will be built of masonry block and that portion of the building will be between the subdivision and the outside portion of the new facility, providing another sound block.
West said the animals have doorways between the inside kennels and outside dog runs of the shelter and those doors are closed at night, keeping the dogs inside the building. He said he'd specifically asked residents whether there were any noise problems at night and they said there weren't.
The new dog shelter will almost double the capacity of the current one. There are 34 kennels with two special isolation kennels.
"It is for dogs but we have designed the building to make it possible to expand in two directions in anticipation that eventually we may have to handle cats," West said.
There have been requests the city and county do something to control stray cats.
"There are a lot of issues that would have to be worked out," he said. "You have to handle dogs and cats completely differently and we've had a lot of debates at the county and city level as to whether we want to get into that."
Planning Commissioner Vickie Rock said, "Now it's just kind of left up to people in the community to take pity on cats."
West said the city's and county's efforts to control cats have been centered on the spay - neuter vouchers that help pet owners with the cost of ensuring their pets don't reproduce.
"We included both cats and dogs in that program," said West. "It's the most effective money we can spend."[[In-content Ad]]
