Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990 TAG: 9003270206
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One proposal would involve a major expansion of the Mill Mountain Zoological Park, said City Manager Robert Herbert. Another calls for a D-Day memorial or museum.
City Council voted Monday to approve Herbert's recommendation that Rhodeside and Harwell, an Alexandria consulting firm, be hired to help establish goals and policy guidelines for assessing proposals.
The study is to cost $35,000 and be finished in 60 to 90 days, Herbert said.
Earlier proposals called for a lodge or hotel, a restaurant and a tram.
Several plans have been prepared in the past 25 years, Herbert said, but council has never adopted goals to guide development on the mountain.
Several years ago, some city officials suggested it might be easier to find a developer for a restaurant and hotel if the zoo closed after the proposed Explore Park opens. They said this would free land for parking and development.
But Herbert said Monday there are no plans to close the zoo. Speculation that the zoo might close if and when the Explore Park opens is "premature," he said. The city owns the land on which the zoo is located, but the zoo is operated by the Blue Ridge Zoological Society of Virginia, a non-profit organization.
"The zoo is doing quite well, and they have talked to me about expansion. I am pleased that the zoo is strong and talking about expansion," Herbert said.
Thomas Hanes, immediate past president of the society, said the zoo is no longer just exhibits for children, but has grown into a collection of animals from many countries. A long-range planning committee has been formed to develop a 10-year plan.
A committee planning a D-Day memorial has requested the city to evaluate the proposal as quickly as possible.
"We need a measuring stick for the very intensive development that we are now talking about on the mountain," Herbert said.
One alternative that might come out of the study could be a recommendation of no more development, he said.
The land was donated to the city by the late J.B. Fishburn many years ago for park and recreational use.
Every master plan for the long-range development of the mountaintop since 1965 has called for some kind of restaurant.
The Mill Mountain Development Committee, an advisory group to council, has kept the idea of a restaurant alive.
Herbert said the committee supports the proposal to update the master plan.
A decade ago, Mayor Noel Taylor strongly endorsed the idea of a hotel on the mountain.
Taylor said recently that he hasn't given up on the proposal. He said this is the reason he has allowed his proposal to remain on council's list of unfinished agenda items.
by CNB