ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130158
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
On the subject of the future for Roanoke's "crown jewel" of parks, there are certainly more questions than answers.
Should the city build a $3 million-plus environmentally friendly parking garage on top of Mill Mountain to accommodate visitors to a zoo that is expected to more than double in size within the next decade?
Or should it begin making plans for a $2 million-plus gondola that would whisk visitors above treetops from downtown or Victory Stadium to the mountain's summit?
Should the city do both? Or neither?
Those were merely a few of the questions left to about 40 local officials and residents after a free-flowing discussion Thursday convened by Mayor David Bowers on the park's future.
But answers are likely to be slow in coming. As it was, there was a stark division among the mostly invited attendees.
Some favor further developing the 474-acre park - by far the city's largest - which rises above downtown Roanoke just a short distance off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
"We already have a parking problem now," said Mill Mountain Zoo director Beth Poff, in describing a planned zoo expansion that would enlarge the attraction from 3 acres and 40 animals to 7 acres and more than 150 critters.
The zoo has commissioned plans for a 2-story parking deck and stone observation tower that would be surrounded by a landscaped earthen berm to screen it from view. Architect David Hill described the 250-space garage as a "vehicular habitat" surrounded by trees and plants.
Bowers himself proposed construction of an incline or cable-and-gondola tram in his 1995 State of the City address.
Thursday, he described the system as "like something you see in a James Bond movie." An expert from Pittsburgh estimated a gondola system would cost $2 million and would be cheaper than an incline.
The tram, the mayor argued, could eliminate the need for the parking deck on top of the mountain.
"If we built that tram we could put the parking lot in downtown Roanoke," he said, addressing City Manager Bob Herbert.
"I understand," Herbert replied.
And Steven Higgs, president of the zoo's board of directors, said he'd like both more parking and a tram or incline system. A previous incline up the mountain behind Roanoke Memorial Hospital's present location fell into disuse and was closed in 1929.
"Some people insist on the convenience of driving up to the front door," Higgs said.
City Parks and Recreation Manager John Coates said many residents have asked for a picnic shelter, a playground and an amphitheater on top of the mountain.
But a vocal group at the discussion said they believe the park ought to be preserved in the mostly pristine condition it's in now.
"I would hate to asphalt the mountain for the sake of individuals and automobiles," said Barbara Duerk, a members of the city's planning commission.
"It bothers me sometimes that we don't have the vision and foresight to look ahead and utilize the assets we do have without destroying them," said David Lisk, a former vice mayor and 1996 City Council candidate.
And Betty Field, who said she has hiked and walked 27,000 miles in the park, said it ought to be valued for its trees, pine needles and wildlife rather than as a lure for tourists and their dollars.
"A majority of folks thought it should not be a money-making place," Field said, citing a 1990 survey of city residents. "It's a mountain. It has only a little bit of topsoil I can't speak to parking lots and gondola rides, because I feel like the mountain should remain the way it is right now. People like the nothingness of that mountain."
Hank Sullivan, who lives on the base of the mountain, agreed.
"Every time we find an empty space, we try to fill it up with something," Sullivan said. We don't realize that the empty space is something to be enjoyed. There's nothing here, and that's great."
After the 90-minute event broke up, Bowers said the city ought to plan for the mountain's future. He said he is undecided on the issue.. But he's against another study because there have already been at least three in the past 31 years.
The mayor said the first step should be for the city to appoint a park superintendent. He said he doubted that could happen before next summer.
"This is a garden spot. We need a master plan, and we need a master gardener to pull it all together and coordinate it," Bowers said.
"I think the park is going to continue to have more and more use," he added. "That creates a problem."
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