The roof at the Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary collapsed, following severe storms on June 24, 2026. (Fox 11 Online)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Finding a permanent home for the cats at Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary hasn’t been easy.
“Zoning has turned into a much bigger difficulty than we were expecting,” said Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary Board of Directors President, Joe Becker.
Getting a permit for animal boarding is only allowed in certain districts zoned within the city.
Currently, the five districts that allow it are:
- General Commercial
- Highway Commercial
- Community Center Commercial
- Light Industrial
- Business Park
Safe Haven’s previous location on Broadway was in the Downtown district, an area that isn’t zoned for animal boarding.
An unanswered question is: If proper zoning isn’t in place, how was the sanctuary allowed to open and operate for nine years?
An ordinance to expand zoning was approved after a first reading at city council Tuesday. If approved after a second reading on Sep. 15, animal boarding would also be permitted in:
- Downtown
- Office Residential
- Neighborhood Commercial
Safe Haven has been working on closing a deal for the former Elmore Elementary School. However, even if the ordinance is passed, animal boarding still wouldn’t be allowed at the location without further zoning changes.
“It’s not a set no, but it is definitely going to be more of a hurdle than allowing them to set up in one of these added zones,” said District 9 Alderman, Ben DeBaker.
Safe Haven says its current temporary permit, which expires Oct. 30, is also presenting a challenge.
“The city has said that they will not extend the permit until we have a place to go secured,” said Becker.
DeBaker says that’s not his understanding.
“The city will work with them to extend that temporary conditional use. As long as Safe Haven is working toward establishing a permanent location,” said DeBaker.
If a suitable permanent location can’t be found in the city, the sanctuary will look elsewhere.
For now, Safe Haven is continuing to prepare its new location at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
“We are hoping to open up on Saturday, Sep. 4th, so two weeks out. We will be open on a limited basis because we have such a small space. We have upwards of 150 people on a normal Saturday, and we can’t have that many people here,” said Becker.
Becker says finding a stable home for the cats is vital. He added the 14 cats at St. Paul’s are starting to get settled in.
A GoFundMe for donations to support the purchase of a new building has reached nearly $140,000 as of Wednesday night.
The city says a meeting to discuss the sanctuary, involving community economic development, Green Bay Police and representatives from the Mayor’s office will be held Thursday. Another meeting will be held next Monday that will include Safe Haven.
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