Watertown officials to determine Zoo New York's condition

Apr. 7—WATERTOWN — City officials will visit Zoo New York on Thursday to take a look at its condition and get ideas how to repurpose the site if it were no longer a zoo.

Zoo New York officials invited city department heads and others to go through the city-owned zoo in Thompson Park to look at the condition of its buildings and exhibits.

"We want to show them what we've got and show them the condition of the zoo," said former City Manager Kenneth A. Mix, who now serves as the board chairman of the Thompson Park Conservancy — the volunteer group that runs the facility.

The visit is coming days after the City Council narrowly approved $100,000 in city funding to get the zoo open for the season. The Conservancy is preparing for a May 4 opening.

Recently, zoo officials provided the city with a list of about $700,000 in repairs the zoo needs, but Mix pointed out that most of them are the responsibility of the Conservancy to complete, not the city. That would include repainting structures, fixing fencing and some roof repairs, among other repairs.

Under the agreement with the city, the work under the Conservancy would be for anything after the initial agreement was signed in 1991 when the group was formed and took over the zoo's operations.

Any work that involves exhibits or the zoo's visitors' center would be under the Conservancy to complete. The city would be responsible for the zoo's main building and other original structures.

The Conservancy wanted a long-term commitment from the city, requesting $375,000 a year for five years.

Mayor Sarah V.C. Pierce and Councilman Benjamin J. Shoen voted against the funding, contending that the city cannot afford to give any more money to the zoo and was unsustainable.

Pierce said Saturday it's time to start thinking about transforming the site of the longtime financially-troubled zoo into another use, possibly a nature center like the one on Wellesley Island or a children's museum in Potsdam.

She contends that those type of facilities would be less costly to operate and still attract children and families to Thompson Park.

Pierce has suggested that a "Reimagination Task Force" be formed to discuss potential options to transform the space for another recreational and educational use. Forming the task force would wait until later, now that three council members approved the $100,000 in funding, she said.

Before Monday's vote, the city's Planning Department got together to look at preliminary possible reuses, City Planning and Community Development Director Michael A. Lumbis said Friday.

Councilman Robert O. Kimball said Friday he doesn't see an immediate need for a task force to study alternative uses for the zoo space.

Instead, it's time to see whether the zoo can have a successful season. The city should study ways to make the facility better or changed "to possibly remain a zoo," he said.

If it cannot remain a zoo, the city should then look at what comes next for the zoo, he said.

He's not joining council members Lisa A. Ruggiero and Cliff G. Olney III who support the city taking steps to save the zoo.

On Friday, Olney said the mayor should have given the zoo the support to, at least, open for the season. He pointed out that Pierce was the chair of a city task force that recommended this winter to save the zoo.

"I don't think she fully understands the value of the zoo," he said.

Olney also pointed out that a survey conducted this winter showed overwhelming support by the public to keep the zoo open.

Recently, Olney visited the zoo to look at the condition of its exhibits and buildings. He believes that the city has neglected the facility for years.

Saying, he was embarrassed at the zoo's condition, Olney suggested that he and other volunteers come together to start "fixing up" the zoo.