Rethinking animal services From the cover
Potential site plan The facility will include space for animal services, boarding and veterinarian o erings, though it is subject to change. Animal services support Private boarding, training, grooming Veterinary clinic Common areas Outdoor spaces
The details
Frisco is considering building a rst-of-its- kind animal facility through a public-private partnership. The Frisco City Council signed a letter of intent with an operator in November and is now moving toward an o cial agreement that could lead to construction of a facility as early as January 2028. “This is what makes this whole thing work,” council member Laura Rummel said of the operator partnership. This facility will be di erent from animal shelters, Rummel said. Rummel, who has been on council since 2022, has been an advocate for bringing an animal facility into Frisco. The facility will have several private partners that help operate it, including Nicole Kohanski, founder of Wiggle Butt Academy and the potential operator for the Frisco facility. Kohanski said she wants to see the facility do community outreach and education, along with the private customer needs, such as boarding, grooming and training. The other public portion of the facility includes short-term holding, reuni cation of lost pets, adoptions and veterinary services. The business piece includes dog training and boarding.
1st oor
TREATMENT/LAB
CORPORATE DR.
DOG INTAKE
STORAGE
KENNELS
VIEWING
DAYCARE
VIEWING
KENNELS
N
2nd oor
OFFICE SPACES
OFFICE SPACES
EXOTIC HOLDING
ROOF
4 acres 18,987 square feet 12 general kennels 29 boarding kennels
CAT HOLDING
TRAINING
24HR CARE
N
SOURCE: CITY OF FRISCOCOMMUNITY IMPACT
The framework
The cause
Animals picked up by animal services in Frisco
64.59%
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
The project will be funded by the Frisco Community Development Corp. It will pay the initial $12.8 million for the site and facility development costs. The operator will then have a 20-year land and facility lease, during which they will pay about $7.7 million back in rent. The public-private partnership allows the city of Frisco to get the project off the ground without extra taxpayer dollars, Rummel said. These part- nerships have been used for facilities such as the Star and PGA Frisco.
In Frisco currently, if the Animal Services division picks up an animal, it is transported to the Collin County Animal Shelter in McKinney. Frisco makes up 11% of the animals at the Collin County shelter, and a Frisco facility would make for a more convenient location for potential adop- tions and pet reunifications, Police Chief David Shilson said at an October meeting. “This facility is going to take some pressure off Collin County,” Rummel said. The Collin County shelter is currently undergo- ing $5.7 million in renovations, after county voters approved the funding in 2023. The Frisco facility would not completely replace Collin County’s shelter services in Frisco, but instead it would be the cherry on top of the city’s animal services offerings, Mayor Jeff Cheney said. “It’s hard to find great examples of the tradi- tional model,” he said. “[Frisco has] a long history of thinking of things differently, trying to solve problems in unique ways, especially with private partners.”
2021
2020
2022 2023
2024
2025
Frisco animals taken to Collin County
102.1%
600 500 400 300 200 100 0
Funding the animal facility
Partnership lease: $7.7M Frisco Community
Development Corp.: $5.1M
Total $12.8M
2020
2021
2022 2023
2025 2024
SOURCE: CITY OF FRISCO/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: FRISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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