All that stands in the way of a regional animal shelter now is a pair of owls.

With this week's decision by the Lake Elsinore City Council to join its Southwest County neighbors in building a shelter in Wildomar, construction on the $13.5 million project could begin as early as June, officials said Wednesday.

It's taken nearly 20 years to get this far in the effort to build the shelter and, for Kristine Anderson, a longtime area resident who works with the nonprofit organization that will run the facility, it's hard to believe this moment has finally arrived.

"It's been a struggle," said Anderson, president of Animal Friends of the Valleys. "It's been a long row to hoe. It seems so unreal right now -- it's there."

Almost.

When construction of the 32,000-square-foot shelter actually starts could have a lot to do with a pair of owls.

Two burrowing owls were recently spotted at the site proposed for the shelter near Mission Trail and Corydon Street in Wildomar. Because they are listed by the state as a "species of special concern," shelter and county officials must study whether the site is a habitat for the owls and, if it is, relocate them.

Burrowing owls are known to nest underground in burrows dug by mammals, such as ground squirrels, or in manmade structures, such as cement culverts.

The presence of the two owls at the shelter site could set construction back by as much as a couple of months, said Lake Elsinore City Councilman Thomas Buckley.

Buckley is chairman of the Southwest Communities Financing Authority, the joint-powers authority formed by Riverside County and the cities of Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula to build the shelter.

Each of the cities and the county have in recent months agreed to a financial plan for the shelter that calls for the authority to issue bonds for construction of the shelter. Each agency will pay a share of the annual debt payment and operations costs for the next 30 years.

Though some council members had expressed reservations over the financial plan, Lake Elsinore on Tuesday became the last city to agree to the arrangement. The council's decision was a significant move for the city and for the region in the years-long effort to build the shelter, Buckley said.

"It was one of the most important steps," he said. "Now, all of the members of the (authority) have signed on and we can look forward to our groundbreaking this summer and hopefully opening by Christmas 2008 -- pending the owls."

Even if the owls set construction back a little, Buckley said, there's a chance the shelter could still open by late 2008. And even if the opening is delayed by a couple of months, he said, what's another two months when it's taken nearly two decades to get to this point?

"It's a little frustrating and it's a little ironic," Buckley said. "But obviously we can't be mean to one animal to help some others."

- Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.