MILWAUKEE – A much-anticipated report to the Milwaukee County Committee on Parks & Culture has revealed new cost estimates for each of the four primary options being considered for the Mitchell Park Domes site.
Milwaukee County Parks deputy director Jim Tarantino led the discussion Tuesday, noting the domes cannot be sustainable long-term under the current model of patching concrete repairs as they crop up and maintaining the status quo, or as Tarantino phrased it: “moth balling”. The facilities have 13 full-time staff members on site, compared to 39 in the 1960s, and decay around the buildings is outpacing the county’s ability to patch up problems.
“Every day we get closer to when that facility closes itself.” Tarantino said to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.
The Mitchell Park Domes Future State Planning and Construction Cost Estimating presented at Tuesday’s meeting indicated the following costs for each option:
An Order of Magnitude Estimate conducted by the Concord Group last month yielded similar numbers for each option:
The four options were also presented alongside mock-ups of what each would look like. The first completely demolishes the three domes and plants an open grass plot in their place:
Option two repairs the broken glass panes in each of the three domes and makes large system upgrades:
The third option would rebuild the glass structure of each dome and make accessibility improvements:
And the final option on the table would be the most ambitious: combining elements of options two and three for one of the three current domes while also building a new conservatory with a small cafe and event space:
As part of a fundraising survey, Tarantino said up to 20 million dollars could be raised in a concentrated county parks fundraising campaign. Additionally, in order to receive historic tax credits to help fund any projects, the domes would have to be sold to a for-profit entity. County Supervisor and Parks & Culture Committee Chair Sheldon Wasserman floated the idea of a binding referendum being sent out to Milwaukee County citizens to gauge what they would like done with the site, as opposed to an advisory referendum which the county board is no longer able to do per a Wisconsin state legislature ruling.
No vote was held by the Board of Supervisors, with Tarantino noting they want the public’s opinion on the matter.
Much of the conversation around the domes has centered on how often people in the community utilize the facilities. In a survey the county parks system received over 3,000 responses to, over two-thirds of respondents said they had visited the domes at least once in the past year.
Whichever option, if any, is ultimately pursued, Recombobulation Area founder Dan Shafer told WTMJ N.O.W. it’s time to have an uncomfortable discussion on the Domes’ future.
“The county parks’ budget is the same now as it was in 1989.” Shafer said Tuesday. “They have lost thousands of employees, millions of dollars in their annual operating budget to maintain the county parks. So where’s the money coming for a 60 to 90 million dollar restoration option?”
Community member and former county task force chair Bill Lynch had a chance to speak at the Tuesday meeting, and chastised the board for appearing to leave out the immediate Mitchell Park neighborhood around the park out of the conversations about what’s to happen with the park at large. “The area around there has been hearing about the domes, and I think that area is becoming very convinced that…we are not getting an accurate or full picture of what the potential is here.”
The next Parks and Culture meeting is December 12th. However, Wasserman previously noted at July’s meeting that he wanted a decision on the domes’ future as soon as possible.
