Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 3, 1994 TAG: 9401040283
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH POFF
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The parking facility designed by Hill Studio, P.C. will soften the impact of cars on the mountaintop containing the parking for the park, the wildflower garden, the star and the zoo, within a structure no larger than the current parking area. The proposed parking facility blends in with the natural surroundings through the selective use of earth berms, tree plantings and sensitive landscaping. The part of the facility that can be seen will use natural stone and wood to further compliment the mountain's landscape and will feature an observation tower similar to the tower located on the mountaintop in the early 1900s.
The Mill Mountain Development Committee and the Fishburn family thought long and hard about the need for additional parking on the mountain, and have approved this concept because it is the best idea to provide better access to the mountain and to help contain vehicle use. The facility is a way to have more people come and enjoy the mountain, the park, the wildflower garden, as well as the zoo, not a facility to raise funds with. The city of Roanoke's Parks and Recreation Department may indeed have some fund-raisers there, for needed funds that get cut from their programs yearly. This would be an added benefit, but not a main use for the facility.
The zoo has been a part of Mill Mountain since 1952. Unlike most zoos around the country, Mill Mountain Zoo is totally operated by a society, receiving little yearly operational cash funding from local, regional or state government. The city of Roanoke supports the zoo with assistance in maintenance, water and other support services, and a small grant comes from the city yearly - along with small grants from Roanoke County and Salem for the first time last year.
The zoo, unlike other museums in the area, does not receive funds from the state (though we hope to change that in the future). It has operated at a break-even point (sometimes a loss) for many years. It cannot continue as it is. The only choices the board of directors have had were to increase attendance by improving the exhibits and enlarging the zoo to make it more of a destination for visitors, to move it from the mountain, or to close it.
Recognizing that increased visitation requires more available parking, the zoo did assist in coming up with the now proposed design. This falls under the strict criteria proposed by the consultants brought in by the city to study the entire mountaintop. These criteria included: no alteration of the view from downtown, the parkway or other neighborhoods; no construction on slopes of 15 percent or greater; no blasting that may affect the aquifer; no more than 20 percent increase of surface-parking area; and preservation of the natural setting and recreational resources of the mountain. The concept still needs approval of a city criteria committee, the Planning Commission, the city manager's office and City Council.
Most parks across the country have a delicate balancing job of keeping the natural beauty of an area and yet being "user friendly" to visitors who insist on the convenience of driving to a spot and parking at the front door. Many of our own visitors and members who truly keep us afloat have a special feeling for this zoo and want it to stay on Mill Mountain. The city deserves to have a quality facility here for children to learn an appreciation of wildlife and habitats, to better enjoy the abundant natural areas we have all around us. It is the zoo's main focus to foster an appreciation of nature. For many people the first real contact with the outdoor world around us is in a zoo or nature center.
The board that operates the zoo is also sensitive to the need to keep our mountain lovely, and would be willing to move the zoo to another location should it be decided that is what is wanted. The zoo wants to move into the future by replacing old cages with new open-exhibit designs, such as the space constructed for "Ruby" our Siberian tiger, to work even more with the breeding programs of endangered species, and to present more educational and fun programs. However, we must first grow into the type of strongly attended facility that can take care of itself, or the zoo shall soon become an extinct place that you remember only from your childhood.
Beth Poff is executive director of Blue Ridge Zoological Society of Virginia in Roanoke.
by CNB