The Long–Range Physical Development Plan is intended to amend the zoo’s original Long-Range Plan, now nearly 30 years old. The plan provides overall guidance for the physical development of the zoo. The key objectives are to continue the 1976 plan’s approach to naturalistic exhibitry and excellent animal care, but update the plan to:
- Improve the animal health, conservation and maintenance facilities and provide new exhibits;
- Provide the community with facilities for social gathering, recreation and interactive learning for visitors of all ages, with a focus on programs that inspire conservation;
- Enhance the zoo’s financial stability and stewardship by creating facilities and programs that yield new, year-round revenue streams;Improve visitors’ experience, particularly for families with young children and during off-peak times in late fall, winter and spring;
- Reduce the neighborhood traffic impact by providing sufficient on-site parking to accommodate current and projected zoo attendance on all but a few days each year, and;
- Provide on-site staff work space that enhances efficiency, productivity and collaboration.
Long-Range Physical Development Plan Elements Animal Exhibits and Conservation Facilities
The plan proposes new exhibits for tigers, Asian bears, Asian rhinos, desert animals and animals of the Asian Highlands, including snow leopards. It also provides for new mammal, bird, reptile and elephant conservation facilities that would enhance the zoo’s ability to provide the highest quality of animal care.
Alternative Transportation
The zoo will continue to work with county and city agencies to encourage alternative transportation such as transit, bikes and flex cars. However, single-family vehicles will continue to be the predominate mode of transportation to the zoo for several reasons. First, families with children generally need flexibility in departure times. Second, the majority of visitors bring strollers and other gear that is not easily transported via other methods. Finally, many visitors come from areas of the region that do not offer direct transit service to the zoo. Surveys have shown that zoo visitors arrive in carpools with an average occupancy of 3.5 people per car.
Events Center
By providing dedicated indoor events space, the Events Center would allow for year-round community use of the zoo for workshops, weddings, family celebrations, company parties and other social gatherings that currently take place outdoors at the zoo during the summer. It is modeled in part after similar indoor gathering places that have been successfully integrated into many other zoos and botanical parks across the country. Zoos with more notable events centers include Oregon, Denver, San Francisco and Atlanta. The one-story building would be designed to accommodate up to 400 people (reduced from 600 in response to public comment). Rental fees would provide a source of revenue for zoo operations during the off-season months when the zoo experiences a significant drop in revenues.
Events Center Location
The Events Center would be located in the current staff parking lot at the edge of the North Meadow, a designated “public activity area” that currently hosts family and community events such as concerts, large-scale celebrations, family reunions, company parties and other social gatherings.
Events Center Specifications
The Events Center would be a one-story, 9,000 square foot building, with a basement for support functions that would be in keeping with the rest of the zoo. Like most zoo facilities, it would be sensitively designed and landscaped with trees and other vegetation. While the building would be designed to accommodate as many as 400 people, average attendance is likely to be lower.
Zoo Office
The LRPDP includes a new office building that provides consolidated and improved workspace for many zoo staff that are currently dispersed among nearly two-dozen sites across the 92-acre grounds. The building would replace a series of aging and energy inefficient trailers of a similar footprint, enabling zoo staff from different departments to work together more collaboratively and efficiently. In addition to increased work and meeting spaces, the building would provide a cafeteria, enabling zoo staff and volunteers to gather informally and reducing the need for staff to travel offsite for lunch. It would contain locker rooms and showers for staff who ride bicycles to work. The new office would also serve as a model of sustainable design that reinforces the zoo’s commitment to conservation. A key design objective of the zoo office building is to demonstrate the application of “green” architecture by utilizing natural wind and solar patterns, environmentally friendly materials, and energy efficient design. The building would be constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Zoo Office Location
The building location, at the site of the current North Entrance, was specifically selected because it is the most conducive for the success of natural ventilation and heating systems – an important element of sustainable design that also helps to lower operating costs. The building is also located to ensure that it would have no visual impact on the surrounding neighborhood. From the interior of the zoo, the building would be partially screened by a small hill and several large trees, and its design would utilize natural and recycled materials for an attractive, “Northwest” style.
Offsite Location consideration
The zoo considered and rejected the potential of locating the zoo offices offsite because this would be directly counter to the zoo’s goal of developing an efficient and collaborative work force. Most zoo staff are required to be onsite every day in order to perform their jobs. This is true across nearly every department, from animal management to guest services, marketing to project management, fundraising to media relations, and human resources to exhibits and interpretive staff. Locating zoo staff offsite would be impractical and inefficient, requiring that staff travel several times a day to and from the site to carry out their duties. This would also have the unintended effect of increasing traffic on nearby streets. In addition, during an emergency, all staff have a critical role and are required to be onsite in order to ensure the safety of animals, visitors, the public and staff.
Traffic Analysis
The analysis of the zoo’s contribution to traffic in the year 2020 is considered conservatively high, because the traffic consultant, Transpo, used a combination of high attendance numbers that is unlikely to occur even on the zoo’s busiest days. This was done to ensure that the zoo’s contribution to traffic would not be underestimated.
The traffic analysis in the revised EIS reflects higher analysis day attendance levels than were used in the previous EIS. For the analysis of weekday and weekend intersection operations, Transpo selected attendance levels that are more than twice the average annual weekday and weekend attendance, and even exceed the average weekday and weekend attendance during the zoo’s peak season from June 15 through Labor Day. Using these higher numbers ensures that the zoo’s contribution to peak-hour traffic is not underestimated.
Transpo continued to use the assumption used in the previous EIS that zoo attendance would increase between 19 and 23% between 2000 and 2020, even though they forecast a likely 19% growth, based on a detailed examination of regional growth data correlated with zoo attendance data.
For the revised EIS, Transpo used updated methodology in the most recent Highway Capacity Manual that was not yet widely adopted for use at the time of the analysis for the previous EIS. They also updated signal timing and phasing based on information from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). For the analysis of 2020 intersection operations at signalized intersections, Transpo assumed that the current signal timing would remain in effect, although it is likely that SDOT would periodically adjust signal timing to optimize intersection operations as traffic grows over the years.
West Entry
The LRPDP proposes to reduce the zoo’s three entry gates to two by consolidating the North and West Entries at the West, thereby reducing the impact of zoo traffic on the residential street north of the zoo (North 59th St.) and increasing efficiency for zoo staff. The new West Entry would incorporate ticketing and admissions, public restrooms, a ZooStore, a first aid station and stroller rentals. A new pedestrian pathway would connect transit stops on Phinney Avenue North to the West Entry. Zoo visitors parking in the West Parking Garage, North, Southwest and Northwest parking lots would enter the zoo through the West Entry. The existing North Entry would be closed to general zoo visitors.