After a months-long holdup over property negotiations, officials with Prineville’s Humane Society of the Ochocos say they’re moving forward with plans for a new, $1 million facility and hope to break ground by the end of the year.

The organization, which runs the region’s only no-kill animal shelter, has been in talks with Crook County for more than a year about replacing its overcrowded facility on South Tom McCall Road, near the southwest entrance to Prineville. In March, officials began working on a potential county donation of land, but those plans stalled when they discovered the land was already designated for the Prineville-Crook County Airport.

Now, the two groups seem to have found a solution in a privately owned site near Baldwin Industrial Park on state Highway 126, not far from the current shelter.

Crook County Commissioner Mike McCabe said the county is working out a plan through which it will swap approximately 5 acres of land in the area with the private owner. The county will then give the parcel — which is considered more desirable with its highway location — to the Humane Society.

Once that deal is done — likely sometime this summer — shelter officials said they’ll be able to move on with fundraising efforts and construction.

“We can’t really start the official fundraising until we have the land finalized … and before you really start in, you have to have your financial ducks in a row,” said Humane Society board member Greg Lynch. “A number of people have intimated that they were willing to make significant contributions, but until we finalize those contributions, we’re not there yet.”

Unlike the Redmond Humane Society, which is struggling with debt and a turnover in leadership, Lynch said the Prineville organization remains on solid footing — which he credits to the shelter’s board, staff and ongoing community support.

“I think it’s apples and bananas — I don’t think the problems at the Redmond shelter have anything to do with, or will affect in any way, our shelter or our efforts,” he said. “The Redmond shelter is principally a management issue, and they were horribly in debt, and we’re not.”

But Shelter Manager Lori Durant said the Humane Society of the Ochocos does continue to face one major problem: overcrowding. The current facility has room to comfortably house about 30 dogs and 34 cats, but is currently home to more than double that amount.

In the past year, the shelter has had to reorganize itself for its biggest rescue ever — 100 dogs recovered from a Powell Butte ranch. Durant said the shelter has now adopted out 54 of the dogs but is still looking for homes for 46 more.

The rescue, she said, has highlighted the need to replace a shelter that was designed for a much smaller community.

“Our shelter hasn’t grown with the population, so we’re just a little bit behind the times on that,” Durant said. “We’re working hard, being innovative, and having off-site (volunteers) host animals that are adoptable.”

Lynch said Humane Society officials don’t have a set timeline for when they’d like to see the new facility completed, but hope to begin as soon as possible. He said the first major fundraiser, a dinner auction, will be held in September.