City urging zoo to reconsider its garage plans

As construction prices climb, and concerns about global warming come into focus, Seattle City Council members are having second thoughts about a four-level parking garage project at Woodland Park Zoo that it approved three times in the last six years.

The zoo plans to break ground on the project later this year.

In a formal letter to Jan Hendrickson, chairwoman of the Woodland Park Zoo Society, a majority of council members said: "We are concerned that construction of a large parking garage, and the support it implies for expanded automobile use, is inconsistent with both the city and the (Zoo's) general goals of environmental stewardship and sustainability."

The council letter, dated May 11, also raises concerns about increased costs and asks if the money would be better spent on improving existing exhibits and upgrading the Zoo grounds.

In April, the council voted 8-0 to approve bond financing for the garage, but several council members said at the time that they had deep concerns, and mainly were voting for the bonds to keep earlier promises and uphold their contract with the Zoo management.

The Zoo board hasn't met since the letter was sent, and hasn't sent a response, but Zoo President Deborah Jensen said officials certainly are concerned about global warming. The garage that is planned, she said, is a much smaller and more environmentally appropriate project than an earlier version. It will have space for about 700 cars.

Seattle City Council President Nick Licata, one of the council members who signed the letter, called it "a last ditch effort to get the Zoo society to recognize that this is something we are not feeling good about, and they shouldn't be looking to the city to bail them out if costs turn out to be more than they anticipated."

Jensen said the Zoo is working with its own staff to cut down on car trips and to provide incentives for visitors to come to the Zoo using alternate transportation.

The Zoo board carefully considered the costs and the city's analysis, and is comfortable with the financing plan, she said.

Jensen said Zoo leaders will talk individually with council members to respond to their concerns about the project.

Recent financial estimates for the garage, prepared by city council staff, show that in a worst-case scenario, with lower-than-expected attendance growth at the Zoo and fewer cars in the garage, the city's share of the cost up as high at $16.5 million, paid over 20 years.

Zoo officials said the numbers aren't as bad as they look because the city's new parking tax was figured into the revised estimates. The city isn't actually losing that money, because it will be returned as tax revenue, they said.

The city agreed in 2001 to pay 75 percent of the cost of the parking garage, with the Woodland Park Zoological Society paying the rest.

Licata said even though the bonds sale was approved, he thinks technically the money could be spent for something else. The city turned over management of the Zoo to the zoological society six years ago.

"I don't want to be in a situation where we are supporting the Zoo (financially) as much as in the past, and having less control," Licata said.

Besides financial concerns, the letter says the garage doesn't mesh with the city's environmental goals.

"Our understanding about global warming has evolved considerably since the plans for the garage were first developed, and therefore, we think it is appropriate to these plans to evolve as well," said the letter.

But Mayor Greg Nickels, who leads the nation's mayors in efforts to reduce global warming, supports the garage planned at the zoo.

"This is the smaller garage. There have been exhaustive studies showing the need for it. The purpose is to accommodate cars that are already going to the zoo," said Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for Nickels.

Some Zoo neighbors and community activists have complained for more than two years that the garage would cost more than expected and not be used.

The letter sent to the Zoo board was signed by Licata, and by council members Richard Conlin, Peter Steinbrueck, Sally Clark and Tom Rasmussen.

Councilman David Della, whose committee oversees the Zoo, didn't sign the letter.

"The fact of the matter is that the Zoo has become a regional draw, you can't expect people, especially with kids, to come there without their cars. And as more families come to the Zoo, you can't put all those cars into the neighborhood," said Della.