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A 1,000-square foot addition to the Cookeville-Putnam County Animal Shelter received approval from the Cookeville City Council Thursday night.
The educational space addition will be built with $100,000 in funds from the Ayers Estate. Cookeville City Manager James Mills said the Animal Control Board and the Shelter’s Friends group indicated a need for the space.
The meeting space had been included in the original plans for the shelter, but was removed because of cost-overruns in the initial building. The new addition will be built adjacent to the shelter, connected by a covered breezeway.
“It was determined that constructing the addition as originally planned would be cost prohibitive due to the modifications required to the existing structure,” Mills said. “We would have to get into the roof of the existing structure. That’s fairly expensive.”
In 2016, Mary Ayers left the shelter $1.2 million in her will. The room will be named for Ayers.
Also Thursday night, the council approved the final reading of an ordinance change to allow brewpubs and microbreweries in the CI and PCD commercial districts. Several local businesses have expressed interest in building such facilities.
The council also approved rezoning along North Washington Avenue and East Jere Whitson Road for town homes through a multi-family residential designation.
