By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

AUBURN – After years of fund raising, the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society plans to finally begin construction next spring on its new shelter.

However, it will be a smaller, less grand building.

The reasons are climbing construction costs and the pressing need for a new place to take the region’s unwanted pets.

“It’s time to get it done,” said Steve Dostie, the society’s executive director. “The community needs it done.”

As early as 2001, the humane society planned to begin construction of a 20,000-square-foot shelter on property on Strawberry Avenue in Lewiston.

But fund raising slowed. And costs rose.

Now, just $200,000 shy of their $2.5 million goal, humane society leaders say they cannot wait any longer.

“We can break ground with what we have, even if it takes us a year to raise the last $200,000,” Dostie said Tuesday.

So architects are completing their plans, and the group aims at going to bid in March 2006 and starting in late spring.

The previously planned shelter, which included a large area for dog training and high, steel-supported ceilings, could no longer be built on the old budget, said Donna Kincer, development director for the society.

Architects estimated that it would have cost an additional $700,000, she said. It’s money that could be raised but would force another delay.

That was unacceptable, Kincer said.

So the size of the new shelter has been reduced by 25 percent. The high ceilings are gone, as is the training area and an indoor garage.

But the capacity for animals – dogs, cats and smaller critters such as guinea pigs, ferrets and rabbits, known collectively as “pocket pets” – will be unchanged.

The new shelter will be designed to accept about 4,000 pets a year, Dostie said.

Though the current shelter accepts 3,300 to 3,400 pets each year, it was designed for only about 1,000.

The new shelter will have more space for each animal, special facilities for spaying and neutering, space for boarding the animals of domestic abuse victims, and a pet-store-like area for people to view animals for adoption.

The facility will also have lots of places for people to make their own mark. Over the next year, until the building is completed, leaders hope to raise money by selling special bricks for the entrance outside or places on an indoor remembrance wall. Required donations range from $300 to $5,000.

The Greater Androscoggin Humane Society serves the communities of Lewiston, Auburn, New Gloucester, Minot, Greene, Poland, Leeds, Turner, Hebron, Buckfield and Canton.

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