By Mike Kinney
The Jelly’s Place animal shelter and adoption center in San Pablo could be forced from its current home at 2905 San Pablo Dam Road, as its founder Julie Bainbridge says she recently learned the property is set to be auctioned on March 7.
Caltrans owns the property and has kept rents low for Jelly’s Place in the last five years, according to Bainbridge. The state transportation agency, which puts properties on auction every three years, per policy, provided Jelly’s Place with options that include a long term lease or to go to auction to seek out a rental deal for the property.
Bainbridge is nervous her nonprofit won’t be able to afford those options.
“We understand their requirements yet this puts us in a very challenging position,” she said. “If we lose the auction, we will need to relocate or shut down by April 30th.”
On the other hand, this could be a positive development. Bainbridge says the property is unstable and may be impossible to build upon, adding no one has yet expressed interest in purchasing it and perhaps Jelly’s Place could get a good deal.
Bainbridge hopes that Jelly’s Place remain there on an affordable long-term lease, buying the nonprofit time to purchase its own land.
“We are also thinking of communicating with Gov. [Gavin] Newsom as well,” Bainbridge said. “He has been known to donate exempt surplus land to nonprofit organizations.”
Jelly’s Place is a nonprofit animal rescue and no-kill shelter in San Pablo. The nonprofit rescues locally and throughout California by pulling animals from the euthanasia list, taking in strays, surrendered pets, and rescuing from hoarding situations. The nonprofit rescued pets from China, South Korea, and Mexico. Jelly’s Place also supports the public with education and supplies, and provides routine and urgent vet care to pets of low-income pawrents. It rescues and rehomes about 600 cats and dogs annually, and receive no government funding.
To find out how to support Jelly’s Place, go here: https://www.jellysplace.org/support-us or contact [email protected].
