For over a decade, Lisa Kathran has run Pearl's Place & Sanctuary on Little River Road in Temple, Texas, caring for more than 70 dogs, cats, and goats while also running a low-cost vaccine clinic and grooming service for the community. Earlier this year, the City of Temple picked that same land as the site for a new water storage tank, a project first planned back in 2019. City engineers said the property fit the technical needs of the job best, so officials offered to buy Kathran's sanctuary outright. She said the offer wasn't nearly enough to relocate a working animal rescue.

The City has now backed off, saying it found another property that can handle the project instead. That's a relief, but it isn't a guarantee. Nothing stops Temple from returning to Pearl's Place if the new site falls through, and nothing requires the City to pay fair value to the next nonprofit it decides to displace.

Mayor Tim Davis and the Temple City Council can settle this for good. They can formally rule out Pearl's Place as a future site for this project, and commit to offering full, fair market value to any nonprofit forced to relocate for a city infrastructure project going forward.

Pearl's Place shouldn't have to keep wondering if the City will come back for its land. And the next shelter, food pantry, or nonprofit standing in the way of a public works project deserves the same certainty.

Sign the petition to make Temple's decision permanent, before another local nonprofit is put in this position.