By Mike Kinney
The Jelly’s Place animal rescue and adoption center will need to relocate from its current location at 2905 San Pablo Dam Road within two years due to a long-planned highway construction project slated to begin in December 2025, owner Julie Bainbridge told the Standard.
Officials with Caltrans, which owns the land, informed Bainbridge about the need to relocate, citing a long-planned project to widen and improve the on and off ramps of Interstate Highway 80 at San Pablo Dam Road.
The impending need to relocate puts the nonprofit in a difficult position. Caltrans has kept rents low for Jelly’s Place, which has called the San Pablo Dam Road site home for the last five years. Caltrans is allowing a month-to-month rental to Jelly’s Place, as it can no longer offer a long-term lease. But the rent is going to be market rate, “which may be out of our reach, we just don’t know yet,” Bainbridge said.
“No other properties we discussed will meet the needs of an animal shelter,” Bainbridge said. “So time is of the essence for us.”
Bainbridge first learned Jelly’s Place’s home was in jeopardy when Caltrans informed her the site would go to auction, which the state transportation agency does per protocol every three years. Bainbridge initially feared Jelly’s Place wouldn’t be able to afford a new longterm lease for the location. But with the news of the upcoming construction project, it’s clear to Bainbridge that her beloved animal adoption center must move in a relatively short time.
“We will need to manage our finances very carefully as we need to find someplace to relocate to, or we will have to close our doors,” she said. “It’s going to take money to do that so we need to save and fundraise as best we can.”
Bainbridge says Jelly’s Place will need to relocate over 140 animals within the year, “as we cannot wait unitl the two years is up.”
Bainbridge fears stripping the community of the rescue and adoption center’s much-needed services.
“We are very stressed and sorry that we cannot help as much as we want to and have consistently,” she said.
The public can help.
“We need to locate an affordable property with existing structures that is zoned for animals/agricultural use. And we need to raise enough funds to pay for it and the upgrades we will need,” Bainbridge said. “We need major fundraising efforts to make this happen. Plus, we need volunteers who, when the time comes, can help us get packed up, loaded up, moved over, unloaded, unpacked, and organized. It is a daunting prospect at best and any help people can give to us, we are grateful for.”
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 receives no government funding.
To find out how to support Jelly’s Place, go here: https://www.jellysplace.org/support-us or contact [email protected].
