Seattle Press on Line - Phinney Residents Challenge Zoo's Long-Range Plan

Phinney Residents Challenge Zoo's Long-Range Plan

By Laurel Holliday

Apr 11, 2002 -- At 9:00 a.m., on April 29, Seattle's Chief Hearing Examiner Meredith Getches will hear the Phinney Ridge Community Council's appeal of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS paves the way for major development and construction on Woodland Park Zoo's 92 acres.

"We don't want to take down the zoo," says Irene Wall, president of the Community Council. "We want the public to understand what the proposals in Woodland Park Zoo's long-range plan really entail."

Wall, who lives only one and a half blocks from the zoo, says that over the years there has been ever increasing promotion, revenue-generating activities, and special events at the zoo. "And the zoo's long-range proposal includes even more of that," she says.

The plan calls for the building of an administration building, a 600-person events center, the building of a large parking garage, the installation of a carousel, and the building of an adjacent 1200-square-foot party house. The plan also includes the construction of many new animal exhibits, restaurants, a new West Entry, and an education center called Discovery Village.

"Our whole point is that a great deal of planning has gone on at the zoo in the last year, and the Environmental Impact Statement has not disclosed sufficient information about all these new proposals," Wall said. "If the hearing examiner decides it has not come up to a sufficiently high standard, then she can remand it back to the Parks Department for them to more fully disclose the impacts of the new structures on the use and the aesthetics of Woodland Park Zoo."

According to the Phinney Ridge Council, zoo attendance has grown by 41 percent over the last two decades, while the city's population has grown by 12 percent. Increased attendance has led to an upsurge in traffic, noise, and parking problems, all of which Phinney Ridge Community Council members believe will be made worse by the expansionist, long-range plan.

While the City of Seattle handed over management of the zoo to the private nonprofit Woodland Park Zoo Society at the beginning of March, the zoo's long-range plan will still be subject to the Seattle City Council's approval because the land the zoo sits on belongs to the city. The long-range plan will likely be presented this summer, and the Phinney Ridge Community Council hopes that the City Council will hold a public comment session prior to making its decision.

Zoo spokesperson Gigi Allianic says that the zoo staff is working on a response to the Phinney Ridge Community Council appeal, but the details cannot be disclosed.

"We've been challenged with a legal appeal, so we can't comment," she said.

She recently sent an e-mail warning all zoo staff and zoo volunteers not to speak with the media or the public on the issue until the legal challenge is resolved. While not unprecedented, the attempt to silence zoo staff--and volunteers, in particular--might be an indication of the level of the zoo's concern about the EIS appeal.

Those interested in reading the Zoo's long-range plan and Environmental Impact Statement, can find copies of both at the Greenwood, Green Lake, Ballard, Wallingford, and Downtown libraries, and at the Ballard, Fremont, and Greenwood Neighborhood Service Centers.

To call for a public forum regarding the new developments at Woodland Park Zoo, call City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck at 684-8804.

To read the Phinney Ridge Community Council appeal go to http://www.phinneycenter.org/prcc.

Laurel Holliday is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in the Fremont district.

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