Pets Alive Property to Transfer Back to Town of Greenburgh
The Pets Alive Westchester board announced Thursday, Dec. 17, their intent to give the former animal sanctuary property located at 100 Warehouse Road South in Elmsford back to the Town of Greenburgh for the purpose of the town working with another animal rescue to help them continue operation as a no kill animal shelter.
It looks like a new group organized by locals after the Pets Alive shelter closed on September 15, Paws Crossed, may take over operations with some former shelter employees in place and animals that had been moved, returned to their former home in Elmsford. This could happen as early as February 2016.
Financial problems and issues with the structural stability of the shelter’s building led to the closure. All animals that remained at the time of closure – over 60 cats and dogs – were transferred to the Pets Alive, Inc. no kill animal sanctuary in Middletown.
Prior to the closure of the facility, the board and the Town of Greenburgh administration discussed having Pets Alive Westchester turn the property over to the town. A deed restriction only allowed use of the property for either municipal purposes or as an animal shelter.
The cost to repair the buildings was set at $1.1 million and Pets Alive put out a RFP (Request for Proposal) to invite other animal rescues to acquire the property. These efforts raised hopes but in the end did not result in a new rescue acquiring the property.
In recent weeks, local community members have communicated with both the Town of Greenburgh administration and Pets Alive Westchester board members expressing an interest in having the property revert back to the Town so that the Town could work with another animal rescue organization to reopen the shelter.
On a WVOX RADIO 1460 AM radio talk show hosted by Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, Town of Greenburgh Building Inspector John Lucido said that while parts of the Pets Alive building need major repair, which will be costly, another animal rescue organization could use part of the building under the guidance of a professional engineer. This would include use of the dog kennels. Lucido mentioned that even though the kennels could be occupied, the front part of the building by the loading dock had bad structural damage. Therefore, the entire front portion of the building – the lobby, the rooms where the cats were housed, and the upstairs quarters – per the engineer on record, should be walled-off and all utilities would need to be relocated to a safe part of the facility and away from the loading dock area.
