Could the Domes become the Dome? Idea floated for cash-strapped county to save Mitchell Park landmark

Here's a radical way to save the Mitchell Park Domes — demolish two and keep one.

This was one idea floated about the future of the Domes located on the city's near south side during a meeting of the Milwaukee County Board's parks and culture committee Tuesday.

The future of the Domes has been a hot-button topic, causing a decades-long debate about how to preserve the historic site amid safety concerns, a decline in visitors, lack of donations and struggling finances. County Executive David Crowley has previously said that the fate of the Domes is "still up in the air," as the county may potentially run out of property tax money to support the non-mandated parks services as soon as 2027.

Among the options discussed included demolishing all the domes and focusing solely on Mitchell Park, carrying out repairs to address deferred maintenance, rebuilding or building a new conservatory facility.

All of these options come with a big price tag.

Milwaukee County Parks Deputy Director James Tarantino explained to supervisors that collaborating with the nonprofit Friends of the Domes, the Domes could possibly generate $20 million through a fundraising campaign. But donors and community members were against simply fixing the Domes and wanted a more "compelling project."

Tarantino said a "reasonable estimate" for a fundraising campaign to just fix one of the domes through smaller individual donors would bring in $3 million.

"Three million dollars would obviously go a longer way to fix one third of the domes rather than the whole complex," Tarantino said.

Supervisors did not discuss which of the three domes — tropical, desert or seasonal — would survive, if this plan moved forward.

The idea of saving just one dome appealed to the chairman of the parks and culture committee, Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman.

"Save a dome versus save the Domes and save Mitchell Park," Wasserman said.

He told the Journal Sentinel ahead of the meeting that the idea depends on donors.

"The Milwaukee community has to step up to the plate. There's no money to write a blank check for the Domes."

The committee discussed the latest report, but took no vote.

Key supervisor changes position

Since his appointment to the County Board in 2022, Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez has pushed for preserving the Milwaukee landmark that is in his district. But Tuesday's meeting marked a turning point in his stance.

"I still think that they should be repaired, but I'm sort of on a different wavelength now after talking to people in the neighborhood," he said. "I don't know if historic preservation is the greatest way to go with the Domes anymore, because it's simply not sustainable anymore."

Martinez prefers saving Mitchell Park as opposed to the Domes. He would like to transform the lagoon, create new basketball courts, bring back the sunken garden and install a cultural center for the Latino communities.

"More than anything, I want money for Mitchell park itself," Martinez said.

Over the years, many supervisors, including those on the parks committee Tuesday, have bemoaned the on-going use of funds to study and produce reports, but not make a decision.

The county had previously considered demolishing the Domes and co-locating its exhibits with the Milwaukee Public Museum after a 2019 study commissioned by the Milwaukee County Museum Task Force. The plan faced opposition from both officials and residents.

In 2019, the Domes Task Force submitted a $66 million restoration plan to the County Board, which was ultimately not adopted. In late 2022, the county's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Task Force unanimously rejected a proposal to allocate $19 million of the county's $183 million ARPA funds for restoration purposes.

A petition to nominate and register the Domes on the National and State Register of Historic Places for its historic status was vetoed last-minute by Crowley in early November, 2022. Supervisors unanimously abstained on voting an override of the veto during last year's budget cycle.

"We did nothing for years...we finally need to address this," Supervisor Steve F. Taylor said.

"So, let's be prepared to make a decision one way or the other in this term," he added.

The Parks Department will present a final report, including construction cost estimates and other remaining information requested, about the next steps for the Domes at the Sept. 12 parks and culture committee.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two of three Mitchell Park domes could be demolished under county plan