After almost eight years and five mayors, at this point a city run animal shelter may truly be a pie in the sky.
The project was first announced in 2011 by then Mayor Gérald Tremblay. The $23 million wildlife center was to be built in Angrignon Park and would have housed about 12,000 animals including cats, dogs, and some urban wildlife.
It was supposed to be built in 2016.
In 2014, then Mayor Denis Coderre announced the new dog and cat shelter would be moved to a facility on Pie IX between 42nd and 47th. The city run pound was supposed to open in 2018, possibly 2019, but the land chosen by the former Mayor is heavily contaminated and needs to be cleaned up before anything could be built.
According to the Journal de Montreal that is not going to happen and it is likely going to see drastic changes before it comes to fruition.
In Montreal's latest budget, three quarters of the more than $40 million dollars investment needed to decontaminate the site chosen by Coderre was pushed back to after 2021.
A spokesperson for the Mayor told the newspaper the City has budgeted $8 million for 2020 and 2021 to study a business model that better meets the city's needs.
One of the possibilities, rather than building a massive one stop pound, the Plante administration could create several small shelters in different boroughs.
Regardless of what is decided it does not look like anything will happen before 2022. Until then the Montreal SPCA and Berger Blanc will continue to provide animal control/pound services for the city.