The new animal shelter is not yet built, but at least Habersham Countians know the name of the road that will lead to it.
On Monday, the county announced ‘Happy Tails Way’ as the winning entry in an online poll that spanned more than a month and considered over 600 entries. The name overwhelmingly won out over the other finalists, claiming 72% of the final vote. The runner-up was Pawsitive Drive (8.8%), followed by Wagging Tail Way (7.2%) and Wagmore Way (11.3%).
Shelter delays
Naming the road has been the fastest part of Habersham’s years-long effort to build a new animal shelter for Habersham County Animal Care and Control (HCACC).
In 2020, voters approved $1.75 million in SPLOST funding for a new facility. However, construction costs spiked after the pandemic, contributing to a series of delays.
As hopes grew in 2022 that construction was near, they were dashed again when the old landfill property the county planned to build on was deemed unusable, largely due to the million-dollar price tag to grade it. The county searched for other properties and eventually selected a county-owned property behind South Habersham Middle School off Old Athens Highway. However, the project remained on hold for another three years as construction costs continued to soar.
To rein in costs, the county relied on value engineering to redesign and reimagine the space. That brought with it its own set of delays.
“The value engineering process between our contractor and the architect has slowed things a bit as some of the items that have been suggested to be changed, the architect has issues with,” explains County Manager Tim Sims.
At the beginning of the year, Habersham County secured a guaranteed estimate from the contractor, moving the project forward.
Construction could begin by end of July
In April, county officials broke ground for the new animal shelter, but cost concerns remain.
“There have been some issues with the cost of material due to the volatility of construction products,” Sims tells Now Habersham. “Many suppliers have increased costs due to speculating higher costs from mostly steel.”
Sims says the county’s contractor has “been negotiating with their subs (subcontractors) to stay within the guaranteed estimate of $7.8 million.” He adds that the county’s main goal is to keep the cost at the guaranteed minimum since commissioners have already approved those funds.
Confident they now have things “figured out,” Sims says he expects grading and construction to begin by the end of the month. That will be a welcome relief not only for the HCACC employees still working in overcrowded, outdated quarters, but also for county officials like Sims, who have worked to ensure that the project voters approved five years ago finally gets built.
Says Sims, “It’s all been a process for sure.”
