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ARF searches for new home after sale of land near Ingles
By Justin Goble
After nearly 25 years in front of Ingles, the Jackson County Humane Society (ARF) is looking for a new home.
Western Builders sold the .87 acre lot in from of the grocery store to Mountain Credit Union on May 12 for $400,000, according to Jackson County online records. The company had loaned the use of the land to ARF free of charge.
Though humane society volunteers keep pets at their homes during the week, the site is used to display animals up for adoption on Saturdays.
According to ARF secretary Jean Lewis, the group is currently looking for somewhere else to hold their weekend activities.
“We’ve found a couple of lots, but nothing with a building,” Lewis said. “If we got a lot, we could put up a storage building to store the crates we use for the spay and neuter trips we take (to Asheville), but we’d have nowhere to wash the animals. Our first preference would be a place that has a building already,
For now, Lewis said ARF will continue to use the site in front of Ingles.
“We will stay where we are as long as we can,” Lewis said. “They’re going to tear down our building and put another one up, and I don’t think we will be able to do it at a construction site.
Mountain Credit Union President Patty Idol said the site will be home to a Sylva branch for her company, which has headquarters in Waynesville.
“We are planning to build an office there,” Idol said. “Before we can build one, we have to be approved by the state’s regulatory agency. That’s why we haven’t started yet.”
Idol said she did not have an exact number on how many jobs the credit union will bring to the area.
For more information about ARF or to offer a lot for their services, call Lewis at 293-5629.
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