News-Record.com

Believe it or not, the North Carolina Zoo has its very own legislative study committee.

And that committee is getting ready to make some recommendations that could help the zoo go from a day-trip attraction to a destination for over-night travelers.

Of course, it could also lead to taxpayers plowing more dollars into the attraction.

First a little background.

Earlier this year, there was a big referendum down in Asheboro on allowing alcohol sales within the Asheboro city limits. As mentioned by my colleague Joe Killian at the time, this is in part expected to help the zoo's expansion plans.

Those plans, as laid out for the study committee last week, include a third "continent," what the zoo calls its major exhibit areas. Already there are North America and Africa. Asia would be the third group of animal habitats.

As one who has hoofed it through the entire zoo, a good bit of that way carrying a sleepy four-year-old on his shoulders, the zoo is already a full day. Adding a third area would definitely put it beyond the see-it-all-in-one-day threshold.

Of course, Zoo Director David Jones made the case to Killian back in August that the zoo was already a multi-day affair:

"To do the zoo properly, you really need to be here for at least a day and a half," Jones said. "If you can encourage people to stay the night, their spending goes to about $145 a day."

Jones said the zoo has been looking to expand, add a new continent exhibit and draw in multiday visitors for years -- but the alcohol ban made things more difficult with potential investors and visitors.

The Asia continent is on the long-range capitol planning spreadsheet he gave committee members last week.

However, to meet existing renovation needs (for example: the zoo is in the process of improving its polar bear tanks and replacing its African Pavilion already) and build for the future, it needs a source of income.

One idea the study committee just might endorse is allowing the zoo to use more of the money it gets from ticket sales to go toward a special capitol fund. That money could be used to repay bonds that pay for repairs, renovations and expansions.

The upside is the zoo would not have to come to the General Assembly every year to ask for money for individual capitol projects. (No more legislative debates about polar bears and large animal barns.)

The downside is the zoo uses ticket sales to pay for staff and other operational costs now. If that money were shifted away, it would need to be replaced with tax dollars - probably to the tune of $4 million.

It's not a crazy idea - the Zoo is a state agency operating under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. But with big old budget deficits staring the state in the face, now isn't exactly the best time to go prospecting for tax dollars.

DENR Sec. William Ross endorsed that idea in a letter to the committee last week. (You'll note, he didn't endorse the idea of making the zoo a free-standing agency or its own nonprofit.)

Rep. Harold Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican who manages to get things done despite his affiliation with the minority party, said that 2009 may not be the year to get a change in zoo funding done. But he said that 2010 or 2011 might be.

The upshot of the expansion would be the zoo could then attract an up-scale hotel on-site or nearby. (And yes, if it were on-site there would need to be a fix to the Umstead Act.) Jones also mentioned an additional attraction, like a theater.

If more folks started staying over night, that generates more business for local businesses and, of course, more government revenue from taxes on things like hotel nights and restaurant meals.

More coming in a story due to be published later this week.