June
21, 2005
Thank
you for participating in our hearing process on the
design-build alternative for Woodland Park Zoo’s
planned parking garage. We appreciated your willingness
to make yourselves heard. Many of you are zoo members,
and eloquently professed your love for the zoo, our
animals and our mission. We are privileged to be part
of your neighborhood.
As
you know, the City Council unanimously passed the zoo’s
Long Range Physical Development Plan (LRPDP) last fall.
After reviewing the testimony from the design-build
hearings, I thought it might make sense to revisit
with you the objectives of the plan. The LRPDP updates
the zoo’s original Long-Range Plan, conceived
nearly 30 years ago. 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.
The
garage is an early element in the 20-year implementation
of the LRPDP. With the testimony generated at two public
meetings coupled with discussions with Zoo Society
Board of Directors, the City of Seattle and Seattle
Parks and Recreation, we’ve selected the “design-bid-build” method
to construct the garage. It was clear from our hearings
that the community felt more comfortable with “design-bid-build” as
the best way to integrate community input into design.
To
review — design-bid-build is the traditional
method of design and construction. A designer is contracted
separately to design the facility. Once the design
is complete, contractors are then invited to submit
bids to construct the facility. We will welcome your
constructive input for this project to ensure it balances
the needs of the many stakeholders in our community
and the region, and is a facility we can all be proud
of. We must also ensure that the garage is built within
the agreed to $16.2 million budget.
With
this decision, Woodland Park Zoo will move into the
selection phase for a parking garage design firm. Once
the design firm is contracted, a schedule of opportunities
for public input into garage design will be established.
We’ll make sure that you have ample notification
for each and every opportunity. Construction won’t
start until 2007, so there will be time for you to
give us your ideas.
To
that end, we have developed a new “Neighborhood
News” page, easily accessible from the home page
of our Web site at www.zoo.org.
Along with future opportunities for public input on
the project, it will also include Web versions of our
neighborhood newsletter “What’s Happening
@ the Zoo?” in-depth descriptions of the zoo’s
Long-Range Physical Development Plan elements, meeting
notices, summaries of meetings with the zoo’s
Neighborhood Liaison Committee, press releases and
other items of specific interest to our neighbors.
The
site will also allow you to register for email notifications
of important zoo announcements and project updates.
If you have already provided us with an email address,
we have taken the liberty to put you on our list. Of
course, you may unsubscribe at any time.
Questions?
Please feel free to contact Jim Bennett, Director,
Communications and Marketing, at (206) 615-1026, jim.bennett@zoo.org.
Sincerely,
Deborah B. Jensen
President and CEO
