Cosley Zoo’s expansion plans would create significant safety, financial, and liability issues.
In 2015, Cosley Zoo created a $49 million Master Plan designed to make it the most popular attraction in DuPage County. To enable this aggressive expansion, the Wheaton Park District (WPD) planned a $5 million, 250-car parking lot on the east side of Gary Avenue. The WPD received an IL Dept of Commerce & Economic Opportunity grant to build this parking lot.
While the WPD has since rescinded the Master Plan and reduced the size of the parking lot to 93 spaces, it has made no commitment to not expand the parking lot (or Cosley Zoo) in the future, and it continues to disregard other safer, more cost-effective parking alternatives.
Wheaton taxpayers subsidize Cosley Zoo with >$1 million annually, yet only one of every seven Cosley Zoo visitors is a Wheaton resident.
Cosley Zoo is a small, accessible park beloved by generations of Wheaton residents.
Why does this matter?
Wheaton residents support Cosley Zoo — and want to see it operate in a safe and financially responsible way. Unfortunately, the WPD is continuing to move forward with expanding Cosley Zoo parking with potentially dangerous conditions (albeit in with an initial smaller footprint), despite strong community opposition.
Creating unnecessary risks
Cosley Zoo’s proposed parking lot and other expansion plans create numerous risks (see below).
Unsafe road crossings
The pedestrian bridge and tunnel in earlier versions of the Master Plan were scrapped due to cost and flooding issues. As a result, Cosley Zoo visitors – including groups of small children – will have to cross Gary Avenue at a traffic light. Plans show that visitors who park in this lot will be forced to walk south to the Prairie Ave. traffic light, which will also serve Wheaton Sports Center patrons, then north to the zoo entrance. Creating this congestion, including novice drivers from a high school a few blocks away, would create a significant safety risk (and open the City of Wheaton up to foreseeable liability should a tragic accident occur).
While Cosley Zoo states its current parking lot is inadequate, it has not shared any parking data (just visitor data) to factually assess parking needs, and if needed, identify safer and more reasonable parking alternatives.
Taxes
Last year, Cosley Zoo earned $550,000 from admission and events – less than 35% of its $1.7 million annual operating costs. Wheaton residents pay $1 million in tax subsidies annually for Cosley Zoo and the rest comes from donations.
Wheaton’s Park District property tax levy is already 35% higher than that of Glen Ellyn and almost 50% higher than that of Naperville. (See A Tale of Three Suburbs for details.)
If and when Cosley Zoo expands to become “the most popular attraction in DuPage County,” how much more will Wheaton taxpayers have to pay?
Destruction of natural areas
The original Master Plan called for building a massive 250-car parking lot – equivalent in size to a Jewel-Osco parking lot – by paving over a four-acre natural area adjacent to Lincoln Marsh. While it has reduced the size of the proposed lot, the WPD has made no commitment to not enlarging the parking lot at a later time. And it’s not clear why Cosley Zoo hasn’t explored using timed passes or other options to manage current parking demand.
Flooding
The natural area targeted for Cosley Zoo’s proposed parking lot is adjacent to Northside Park, Lincoln Marsh, a residential area, and a 100-year floodplain. Ten years ago, the city of Wheaton funded a significant infrastructure project to address flooding in this area and along Main Street. Even with environmentally friendly pavers, paving over natural areas could exacerbate flooding, which still occurs – and may worsen due to changing climate patterns.
Air pollution & traffic congestion
Cosley Zoo’s growth ambitions could harm quality of life for Wheaton residents in terms of congestion, traffic, air quality, and noise — which is why input from Wheaton residents is critical to any potential Cosley Zoo expansion plans.
How did we get here?
2015
The Master Plan was created with 15 planners and no public participation.
2017
The WPD approved the Master Plan. It was not shared with the broader Wheaton community and was eventually obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2023.
2018
The WPD stated that it intended to build a 250-car parking lot on the east side of Gary Avenue in line with its expansion plans. To ensure Cosley Zoo visitors could safely cross Gary Avenue, the plan included a pedestrian bridge over Gary Avenue or a tunnel beneath it.
2023
The WPD announced it had funding for the parking lot, with $2 million from the WPD, $2 million from the Cosley Foundation, and a $500,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity.
Parking lot plans showed a tunnel under Gary Avenue until August 2023, when it was removed from the drawings.
In October, the WPD shared plans to reduce the size of the parking lot to accommodate approximately 150 vehicles. (Cosley-Zoo-Parking-Lot-Expansion-Plan-Update-Oct-2023.pdf)
2024
The City of Wheaton announced plans to make improvements to Gary Avenue. Neither the planned pedestrian bridge nor the tunnel under Gary Avenue were assessed to be feasible due to cost and flooding issues.
The WPD rescinded the 2017 Master plan during a February WPD board meeting.
The WPD shared plans to further reduce the size of the parking lot to accommodate 93 vehicles, while making no commitment to not expand the parking lot (or Cosley Zoo) in the future.
Take action.
Sign the petition
Petition · Stop Wheaton Park District's Parking Lot on Wetlands · Change.org
Order a yard sign
ProtectWheaton@gmail.com
Call
Contact the City of Wheaton at 630-260-2000 to express your concern.
The original $49 million Master Plan (in 2015 dollars)
Equivalent to $64 million today, this cost does not include the increased operational costs of the expanded zoo. Click the Approved Plan photo below/at right to read the document.
Wheaton’s Park District property tax levy is 35% higher than that of Glen Ellyn and almost 50% higher than that of Naperville.
Wheaton residents already pay $1 million in tax subsidies annually for Cosley Zoo — and only 1 out of every 6 visitors are Wheaton residents.
In 2016 and 2020 surveys by the Wheaton Park District, there was no indication that residents wanted such a project — or its jaw-dropping costs
