Despite strong opposition, Cosley Zoo parking plan moves a step closer to approval

An advisory panel has endorsed a Wheaton Park District plan to expand parking at Cosley Zoo despite strong opposition from neighbors.

After four public hearings with 16 hours of testimony, Wheaton’s planning and zoning board voted 5-0 on Wednesday to recommend approval of a proposed 93-space parking lot across the street from the zoo, 1356 N. Gary Ave.

The park district will now take its proposal to the Wheaton City Council, which will get the final say on whether the project can proceed. The city council will review the district’s request for a special-use permit as soon as July 1.

On Wednesday, planning and zoning board members said the park district’s request met all the requirements for a special-use permit. Those standards include how the project might affect traffic congestion, neighborhood property values, and water drainage.

The park district owns 6 acres on the east side of Gary Avenue, and the proposed parking lot would occupy roughly one acre of that land. Most of the site would remain as green space.

Planning and zoning board members said the plan would uphold property values more than other potential developments.

“I could see some alternative uses as certainly not benefiting the homeowners around the property,” board member Mark Plunkett said. “I would consider this, with the green space and the setbacks, to be less, I guess, injurious than what is there right now.”

However, neighbors of the zoo are opposed to the parking expansion. They say the plan is too dangerous for Cosley Zoo patrons — many of them children — because it would require them to cross Gary Avenue from the auxiliary lot to the zoo.

“I think there’s been much evidence presented on that topic,“ resident Jeff Westergaard said Wednesday. ”I think it is, as I said previously, the only issue that really matters in the decision tonight, and I would urge you to give it the proper weighting.”

But planning and zoning board members pointed to how the city will improve Gary Avenue this summer.

The work will include the installation of a traffic signal and a crosswalk near the parking lot at the intersection of Gary and Prairie avenues. Fencing at the western border of the parking lot would direct people to the crosswalk.

“I think this (the new parking lot) is all conditional on the city putting in that light at the intersection,” Plunkett said. “Because without that light at the intersection, it doesn’t make sense to go forward with this.”

Officials said the parking lot will not be allowed to open until after the traffic signal is operational.

Opponents also question whether an additional parking lot is needed based on what they say is a lack of accurate data on how often the existing lot reached capacity.

However, board Chair Nicole Aranas said the park district is not required to demonstrate a need for the parking lot to qualify for a special-use permit.

If built, the parking lot is estimated to cost $2.1 million, to be paid for by the Cosley Foundation. The park district has stated that no taxpayer money will be used for its design or construction.