Iowa City animal shelter's $1 million fundraising campaign set to kick off

A nonprofit organization is ready to start a fundraising campaign for a new Iowa City animal shelter.

Friends of the Animal Shelter Foundation sent a letter to City Manager Tom Markus this month, saying that it plans to begin a $1 million capital campaign this summer.

The city is in the design phase for what is estimated to be a 12,225-square-foot, $3 million facility. The city's old animal shelter was flooded in 2008 and the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center has been working out of a temporary home since then.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has committed $1.4 million toward the shelter, which is to be built on Napoleon Lane on the south side.

A major financial commitment from the Friends of the Animal Shelter Foundation has long been part of the plans for a new facility.

In the letter, the organization said it expects to give the city $200,000 a year for five years, starting in June 2013.