The building that houses Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence is about to grow.

USAFV executive director M. Lynn Crane presented a plan to build an addition at a city council meeting Tuesday night. Council approved her request to use $50,000 in leftover city grants to help pay for the project.

“We want to build off the back of the building as far as we can and still meet code for setbacks and all of those things," Crane says. "That will become the new living room and dining room area along with a new and much more functional utility room.”

Crane says the addition will help protect the privacy of the families who use the shelter.

“We’ll actually create a little more privacy for survivors and their children who stay there because the living room will be on the back of the building rather than the front," she says.

The current living room will be converted into offices for shelter staff. Those will be more private than the offices that USAFV has now -- some of which don’t have doors, because of the way the shelter was originally built.

Crane estimates the construction will cost around $65,000. Council members said the city might be interested in donating more to the project once it gets under way.

Council also discussed its annual lobbying trip to Washington, DC. They voted to send member Tom Enlow, who was absent at a previous meeting, when city council voted to send Zoya Johnson and Dennis Robinson. They’ll be joined on the trip by mayor Shirley Marquardt and city manager Chris Hladick.