With sightings of feline strays and the occasional raccoon scampering around Norwood, several animal advocates are calling for a 24-hour, multi-service animal shelter to be built at a building once known as the “toxic school.”

Some members of Community Board 7 (CB7)  and the Bronx Animal Shelter Endeavor (B.A.S.E) have since proposed an animal shelter be built at 3200 Jerome Ave., a red-brick site at the corner of Jerome and Van Cortlandt avenues. The efforts are part of a long-term push by advocates to have a full-service, city-owned shelter in the Bronx.  “The fact is that if there is any kind of emergency…in the north Bronx, it’s very hard to get anywhere. We don’t want animals to suffer,” said Helene Hartman-Kutnowski, a member of CB7, who’s pushing for a shelter.

In addition to a shelter, advocates are also calling for other services including veterinary care and mobile spay and neuter vans.

But some still question the safety of the Jerome Avenue building for the sake of the animals that would be sheltered at this proposed facility. “I have very contradictory feelings about that site. It’s supposed to be the most clean place in all the Bronx, but I don’t really trust the city,” said Sheila Sanchez, president of Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval and animal activist.

In 2011, health officials discovered the building, which then housed P.S. 51, contained high levels of Trichloroethylene (TCE), a cancer-causing toxin. The findings resulted in extensive testing of the building followed by two lawsuits from employees whose health suffered from exposure to the toxin.

The building has been cleared for reoccupation since December 2014 when the Department of Environmental Conservation issued a Certificate of Completion for the site, through DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, where contaminated properties are voluntarily investigated and cleaned for redevelopment purposes.

Despite her concerns about the building, Sanchez still believes the previous site of PS 51 would be a great location for the Bronx’s first animal shelter. “Other than the previous contamination, the place is a good place. It’s easily accessible.”

The fight for a shelter stretches back 15 years, after the City Council passed a law mandating an animal shelter in every borough. But that never came to light in the Bronx except more funding for Animal Care & Control of New York City, an agency tasked to control the animal population.

“We need the Bronx city councilmen members, headed by Councilman Ritchie Torres, who is wonderful, to really work to get this on the mayor’s priority plate,” said Bernadette Ferrara, a staunch advocate for a Bronx animal shelter.

Councilman Andrew Cohen, whose district covers the Jerome Avenue site, noted that the building would be a “great location” so long as it’s safe.