HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Animal shelter plan is under consideration

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   Hopewell Township officials are scheduled to confer today (Thursday) with Sansome Pacific — owners of a 170-acre tract the township expects to acquire — about establishing a no-kill regional animal shelter on the tract, Mayor Vanessa Sandom said Monday.
   Sansome Pacific Properties Inc. “is a privately owned real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition, development, repositioning, financing and disposition of commercial single and multi-tenant assets throughout the United States,” according to its website. The firm is based in San Francisco.
   The township is to acquire the land under a legal agreement with Merrill Lynch, a previous owner of the tract, located off the south side of Washington Crossing-Pennington Road (Route 546), a short distance west of Scotch Road.
   ”There’s been a lot of support for the concept of establishing the shelter,” Mayor Sandom said.
   ”Ewing and Lawrence are other towns that have said they’d be interested in participating in the regional shelter.”
   Ms. Sandom said that — if Sansome officials indicate they are agreeable to establishing the shelter — Hopewell Township officials would meet with officials of Lawrence and Ewing and any other area towns that express an interest in using the shelter.
   ”We’d have to talk to the county about it also,” she said. “And we’ll talk to nonprofits that are involved in animal shelter services.”
   The mayor said that, if the shelter is established, it’s expected it would be run by a nonprofit, or a consortium of nonprofits.
   Animals that could be dropped off or picked up at the shelter would include “any type of animal that can be domesticated — horses, dogs, cats, birds and others,” she said.
   Animals that have been rescued could be dropped off at the shelter, which would offer animals for adoption.
   ”People could also volunteer to care for animals until they’re adopted,” Ms. Sandom added.
   There could be a veterinary service and/or a small retail outlet at the shelter.
   ”The retail outlet wouldn’t be a pet supply store,” she said. “We already have existing businesses of the that type here. A retail outlet at the shelter would sell memorabilia — T-shirts and that kind of thing. We’ll be reaching out to local vets to see if they’re interested.”