The Woodland Park Zoo is building a new edition but instead of animals, this one holds cars. Plans call for a four floor parking garage in the north west corner of the zoo, with capacity for 700 automobiles. Some neighbors feel officials ignored public input on the design of the garage, after a design committee advocated an underground garage be built on the opposite side of the park.

"Ten days prior to the first public hearing, it was announced ... that the location [of the planned garage] was changing to the west and would now be above grade," said Irene Wall a neighbor and former board member at the zoo.

The garage is required, zoo officials said, to add capacity for heavy admission days when the existing 654 parking stalls are filled. Additionally, the zoo hopes to accommodate an estimated 20% growth in admissions in the next 15 years. According to Jim Bennett, the director of communications and marketing for the zoo, the principle reason for changing the design of the zoo was money.

"Finances are the big piece of this, obviously. The preferred alternative is often the most expensive thing, but the city can't afford to pay for everything that everybody wants," Bennett said.

The initial design for the new garage was for a structure to be built mostly underground near the south side of the park. The cost estimated with such a design was $30 to $35 million. Officials then scrapped that idea, and proposed an above ground garage on the north side of the park near Phinney Avenue, that would cost an estimated $16.2 million.

Some neighbors are also concerned about the potential blight a four floor concrete structure would bring to the park. Bennett is hopeful it will be carried off with the same style that graces the rest of the world famous zoo.

"In early December, we will host the first workshop where the public will give input to help aid in the design process. The Zoo's really into design and the garage won't be any less meticulous," he said.

Regardless of the zoo's passion for design, it's adherence to public process is at the heart of the current controversy. Wall and other garage critics feel that zoo officials have engaged in a bait and switch where the bulk of the input process was spent on input for a garage that would never be built. The zoo's Bennett sees it as unrealistic expectations.

"The initial public process was five years - a long time. I think Irene's expectation was that ...when the design changed, the process should be an extended period. It will cost $16.2 million to build which was agreed upon by the city in October 2004 through a unanimous vote by City Council," Bennett said, though City Council Member Richard Conlin later apologized for the lack of public process in the design. Conlin did not, however, say the Council should readdress the garage design.

Since the Seattle City Council has already voted to endorse the above ground garage and zoo officials are moving ahead with the selecting a design build contractor, the prospects for garage opponents seem dim.

"We're not going to give up the fight. A number of the city council members weren't aware of the switcheroo. As were talking to city council members, they're changing their tune," said Diane Duthweiler, who has organized several protests during this election season.

Duthweiler isn't willing to say which council members have given her a sympathetic ear, but hopes the election may improve the garage critics' chances.

"There might be some new allies in the new city council. There is sympathy growing," she said.

The zoo has an annual operating budget of about $23 million. Some of the revenue comes from private donations, concession sales, tickets and the gift shop. The City of Seattle also provides several million in funding, including about 2.5 million last year from the Pro Park Levy, and the Parks Department provides oversight on some zoo decisions. The city also owns the property, but turned over operations management of the zoo to the Woodland Park Zoological Society in 2001. The garage will be 75% funded by the city of Seattle and 25% by the zoo. Because of the city's oversight, the city council decides ultimately decides on the zoo design.

Zoo officials hope to begin construction on the garage by mid 2007 and have it completed sometime in 2008