Shelter issue goes to council

Promises for Pets wants to open a shelter in the city.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A proposal for an animal shelter in the city is moving on from the planning commission to city council, which has the final say over it.

Promise for Pets, a no-kill animal rescue group that now fosters animals in people’s homes, wants to build a 6,000-square-foot building on 20 acres bordered by Elder, Vine, Ash and Scott streets. The property belongs to Solid Rock Ministries, and the group will buy it if it can get a conditional-use permit in the residentially zoned neighborhood.

Several residents in the neighborhood protested the plan at a planning commission meeting in March, and the issue was tabled until Wednesday’s meeting, with the commission asking Promises for a site plan that indicates the building’s location.

Neighbors were there again Wednesday, telling the commission that they feared for the safety of children in the area should dogs get loose and wander off shelter property.

Vakia Armstrong of the nearby Blessing from Above Pre-school said she has 62 children at the school, 31 under age 5. They take daily walks.

“So my concern is safety,” she said.

Others said, though, that a shelter would be a solution to wandering dogs.

“I’ve witnessed pit bull attacks,” said David Isenberg. director of Joshua House. “There’s an overabundance of strays,” said Isenberg, who lives on the south side.

Debbie Librandi of North Beaver Street said she doesn’t understand why people wouldn’t want the shelter.

“They are trying to provide a service,” she said.

Susan Papa, director of Promises, has maintained that the shelter will be built on enough land that it won’t be an imposition on the surrounding neighborhood. She said the shelter will be more like a hospital, which would be permitted as a conditional use in the neighborhood.

John Bromley of Becker Street disagreed, saying the only logical place to build on the property will be “in everyone’s backyards.”

Members of the planning commission said they couldn’t make an informed decision about whether the building would be a detriment to the neighborhood, because Promises still hasn’t given them enough information about where the building will be on the property.

The three out of five planning commission members who were at the meeting had differing opinions on whether the shelter is a good proposal for the neighborhood.

Carmen Rozzi said he is in favor of it. “I don’t believe it will detract from the neighborhood.”

He also said, though, that he wanted to table the proposal for another month so the commission could review a site plan that shows a building location.

Papa said she concentrated on issues such as noise, borders and fencing for Wednesday’s meeting.

Member J. Christopher Miller said he believes the shelter would be classified as a kennel, which is a conditional use in a transitional or commercial zone, so he would vote against it for the residential neighborhood.

Miller and member David Esposito both work for an architectural firm that does work for the New Castle School District, which opposes the plan. The property is next to Lockley Elementary School, which may expand in the future, Esposito said. To do that, it would need some of the land Promises wants to buy. He said he was considering abstaining from the vote.

The board wanted to table the proposal for another month, a suggestion that did not sit well with Papa. She suggested the board “just refuse us.”

Rozzi eventually made a motion to approve the conditional use.

Miller and Esposito abstained. Rozzi voted yes, saying the motion passed and the issue would move on to city council.

After the meeting, residents questioned whether the vote could pass with only one member voting yes.

Rozzi said it wasn’t an official vote, but it was enough to send the issue to council.