Mitchell Park Domes friends group vows to deliver a plan to save the Milwaukee landmark
The Friends of the Domes is promising to soon offer a comprehensive funding plan to preserve Milwaukee's decades-old attraction and revamp the surrounding Mitchell Park.
Christa Beall Diefenbach, the executive director of Friends of the Domes, announced a plan that would feature a three-pronged approach for funding — a mixture of donations, tax credits and county funds used to establish a sustainable reinvestment in the landmark and the park on which it's located.
Beall Diefenbach said the group is refining cost estimates and timelines. She hopes the group will be able to submit a proposal to Milwaukee County by early 2024.
"This, without question, will be a serious effort and so it is really going to take everyone just being patient and helping us through this process," she said. "The Friends of the Domes is willing to step up in a new way, to be this solution."
"This will be a solution that comes from the community... It's got to be like a good, old-fashioned barn-raising where you have the whole community come and raise the walls of the barn — that's what we're hoping for," Beall Diefenbach said.
The precarious future of the Domes has been a hot-button issues for years with many weighing in on how best to preserve the site despite growing safety concerns, a decline in visitors, on-going deferred maintenance, staffing issues, a drop in donations and uncertain fiscal stability.
More: Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee's 'astrodomes for nature,' replaced a crumbling conservatory
The announcement comes after years of studies and proposals that have sought to find ways to preserve the Mitchell Park Domes. Most recently, Milwaukee County's parks and culture committee discussed four options for the three domes: demolish, repair, restore or restore only one dome and build a new conservatory.
The chairman of the committee, Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman, floated the idea of a referendum vote.
But all options come with a hefty price tag:
Between $4.78 million and $6.4 million to demolish all three domes.
Between $21.72 million and $29.08 million to repair all three domes. The cost to maintain this option over a 20-year period was estimated at $30.15 million.
Between $67.15 million and $91.15 million to restore all three domes. The cost to maintain this option over a 20-year period was estimated at $11.49 million.
Between $55.08 million and $69.44 million to restore only one dome and build a new conservatory. The study used the tropical dome as the chosen dome in the study. The cost to maintain this option over a 20-year period was estimated at $10.89 million.
"They're very important to our community. Not just for what they are but what they represent," said Milwaukee County Parks Deputy Director James Tarantino. "At this very early stage, we are optimistic that something can be done with the friends group."
"If it is phased — if we can break this into manageable phases and share in the costs of each of those phases, then we have something that is feasible."
For Tarantino, that approach is not anything new. It is something that has been carried out at the Milwaukee County Zoo with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee.
"That seems to be an arrangement that works well for our zoo. So, why can't we re-create that at the Domes?" he said.
Wasserman, however, is cautious.
"My concern with this whole project is, is it truly feasible...We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveys and consultants and we're back to square zero," Wasserman told the Journal Sentinel.
"The Domes are failing and the time limit is real," Wasserman said. "The (Milwaukee Board of Supervisors) has a limited tolerance to wait for a substantial and real proposal on the table... the board doesn't want to wait on pipe dreams."
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: Mitchell Park Domes friends group vows plan to rescue Milwaukee icon
