“I want everyone here to remember John Ball Park as it is and as it should be.”
Amy Hinman was one of eleven residents with the Save John Ball Park group who asked commissioners to either postpone their vote indefinitely or vote no on the zoo’s amended 2015 parking expansion plan, commonly referred to as the 2023 plan. This new plan would involve paving over adjacent green space to add an additional 620 parking spaces, less than the 2015 plan which called for 670. In the end, the board voted 11 to 6 to approve the parking amendment.
Commissioner Matt Kallman expressed his desire to find a way to make all parties happy.
“I wish there was some perfect plan that addressed all concerns but it seems to me the 2023 amendment is better than the 2015 option.”
While Kent County owns both the park and zoo, the zoo is required to get approval from the board on a master plan every 10 years. The zoo’s current master plan was adopted back in 2015. The county’s corporate counsel explained that while commissioners could seek alternate plans from the zoo, there was nothing they could do to change the 2015 master plan. Commissioner Monica Sparks expressed frustration over the board’s lack of power.
“I get so tired of government saying, ‘This is the way it has to go,’ when we sit up here every week and make amendments.”
Commissioner Stan Ponstein explained how that was no longer an option.
“We gave up that right when we decided we didn’t want to run the zoo the same way when we said that we didn’t want to run the road commission. We gave that away.”
Members of the Save John Ball Park group are currently seeking a historic district designation from the city as a way to preserve the greenspace surrounding the zoo.