Council staff will now prepare a Development Application.

Speaking for the motion, Councillor Sue George said it was pleasing to see such progress.

“I am looking forward to seeing it completed,” she said.

Although Cr Tony McNamara did note building the new facility comes with a hefty price tag.

At an estimated cost of $1.6471 million, the preferred location is opposite the Council’s waste management facility.

And, animal welfare considerations, including extreme weather conditions have been included in the design. 

The cat room is designed with a split system air conditioning unit and the dog pens will be provided with a misting system to keep the animals cool in hot weather. 

However, the building is not designed to be heated.

The existing facility also lacks many of the basic safety requirements for staff.

As such, the design for the new facility has incorporated a number of measures to improve this, including:

Council’s Acting Director Planning and Infrastructure, Damian Morris, said the draft design presented to Councillors is in keeping with the community’s expectations for meeting animal welfare standards and management practices.

“At the same time, Council is looking into options to fund the new facility including an expression of interest process to establish whether a build/own/operate model is a viable alternative to a new Council-operated facility.

“The outcome of those investigations, as well as the assessment of the development application, will be the subject of a further report to Council in February 2018.”