MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – The Safe Animal Shelter in Clay County said it’s on the verge of closing due to the road construction projects affecting the traffic, but the county said it modified traffic to help visitors get to the shelter.
RELATED: Progress and roadblocks in Clay County as massive road construction projects move forward
The Safe Animal Shelter is located at 2913 County Road 220 in Middleburg.
In a video posted on Facebook, a person representing the shelter said that the major road closure has caused people to think that the shelter is closed or inaccessible.
“Everybody uses this road to come in for donations, adoptions, volunteering, all of those have dropped since the new road closure,” a woman said.
The county sent a statement to News4JAX saying that an entrance was created specifically for shelter access and modified the traffic signal to help visitors get to the shelter.
“In addition, the county’s construction contractor has placed a clearly visible sign from Knight Boxx Road indicating that the shelter is open to the public,” the county said.
County Road 220 in the area near the shelter is being widened to four lanes, and work is expected to be complete in 15 months.
The woman in the video also said it costs $2,400 a day to operate the shelter, which comes out to $72,000 a month.
“All of that is donation-based right now, our donations are down somewhere around 60 to 70% and all of that is because of the road closure that leads to our main entrance,” she said.
The county sent a statement about the services provided by the shelter.
“Clay County Animal Services, under the Board of County Commissioners, has partnered with Safe Animal Shelter for years to provide services. CCAS provides spayed/neutered and microchipped animals to the shelter at no cost, offers low-cost sterilization services, and assists with animal care during evacuations. The County also leases the shelter site to Safe for $1 per year,” the county said.
County officials said that with rising construction costs, spreading out the projects across years would’ve led to higher expenses.
“To complete seven high-priority road projects ahead of the First Coast Expressway and to use taxpayer dollars cost-effectively, the Clay County Board of County Commissioners approved the use of bond funding in 2020. The bond process has a defined timeframe to spend the funds, so many of those projects are under construction now. Once finished, these improvements will help relieve traffic congestion and enhance public safety,” the county said.
Click here to donate to the shelter and learn more about Safe Animal Shelter.
Click here for all major road projects in Clay County.
