PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI staff Jersey Shore Animal Shelter Executive Director Heather Camissa plays with Fib, a domestic shorthair.
First major renovations planned for longtime Brick Twp. facility
BY KARL VILACOBA
Staff Writer
It would be easy for the volunteer board of directors at the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter to be discouraged by the chaotic Brick Boulevard road construction in Brick Township.
The Jersey Shore Animal Shelter before renovations.
The project-associated traffic nightmares lowered sales at the shelter’s thrift shop by about 20 percent during the worst months. The shelter had to place a sign on the road just to direct cars through a path of road cones leading to the facility. And the Beaverson Boulevard extension –– now being built on a strip of former shelter property condemned by Ocean County — disrupted everyday operations and upset the animals.
Instead, the board saw these aggravations as an opportunity.
"We’ve been handed lemons, and we’re going to make lemonade," said Jersey Shore Animal Shelter Executive Director Heather Camissa.
Knowing that the county’s work was going to force change anyway, the shelter decided the time was ripe to embark on its first major renovation project.
Charlie peeks out of “Meowville,” the living quarters for cats at the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter.
"Let’s face it –– we’ve been here as the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter for 20 years, and the population has grown around here in that time," Camissa said of the need to expand its space. "This only brought it to the forefront."
The new shelter plans, designed by architect Ronald Sebring, of Ronald A. Sebring Associates, Point Pleasant, were approved by Brick’s Zoning Board of Adjustment Sept. 10, and now await final construction permits and inspection by the Ocean County Board of Health. Sebring’s design includes several specialized rooms for the animals’ care and maintains the building’s home-like exterior.
Camissa said Sebring’s former service as president of the New Jersey Marine Mammal Stranding Center, and his work designing veterinary clinics, gave him an uncommon understanding of the shelter’s future needs.
"He comes to us with a wealth of experience, and we were lucky to find him and his team," Camissa said. "This is a unique environment, and not many people were familiar with it."
The Jersey Shore Animal Shelter after planned renovations.
Almost every aspect of the shelter will be improved under the new plans.
Wider dog runs will house the animals while they await adoption. Two meeting rooms will afford potential adopters the chance to spend quality time with the pets. One part of the design that Camissa is especially excited about is a free-roaming cat room, which will give the animals a relaxed atmosphere and a window to give them a view of outside.
Several new rooms are dedicated to the animals’ veterinary care. Among them are a pharmacy, cat and dog whelping rooms that give the animals a quiet area for birthing, two examination/surgery rooms, and two isolation rooms for cats and dogs recovering from surgery or illnesses. The isolation rooms will be built in the present thrift shop area.
The new thrift shop will have a receiving and sorting room for drop-offs of donated items. Bedding and fabrics used for the animals’ care will be cleaned in a new laundry room.
Also significant, the shelter’s driveway will be moved from Brick Boulevard to the Beaverson Boulevard extension. However, the shelter plans to keep its Brick Boulevard mailing address.
A use variance was required from the board because shelters are not permitted in the area’s B-3 commercial zone. But attorney Mark Troncone of King, Kitrick, Jackson & Troncone, Brick, told the board the shelter was an inherently good use that provided an important service to the area. Several board members agreed verbally and in deed, granting the shelter its relief with a unanimous vote.
Formerly called the Brick Humane Coalition, the shelter opened its doors in 1981 and changed its name in 1982. The shelter rescues and cares for unwanted, abused, abandoned and sick animals, and administers their adoption. The nonprofit shelter is governed by a volunteer board of directors.
Camissa estimates the cost of the project will run over $500,000. Donations for the project may be sent to the Jersey Shore Animal Center Building Fund, 185 Brick Blvd., Brick, NJ 08723.
Construction is expected to begin by the year’s end.
"We’re staying right here in Brick, and we’re excited to be a big part of this community again," Camissa said.