19 Dec ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO ANNOUNCES OPENING OF NEW, 500-CAR PARKING DECK AT ESSEX COUNTY TURTLE BACK ZOO
Published on December 19, 2019
West Orange, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced the opening of a new, 500-car parking deck at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo on Monday, December 16th. This is the third parking deck to be erected on site and will provide much-needed additional parking to accommodate guest coming to the zoo and other attractions at the Essex County South Mountain Recreation Complex.
“Introducing new animal habitat exhibits and visitor amenities has made Turtle Back Zoo one of the most popular destinations in New Jersey. With the record numbers of visitors who continue to come, the two garages we have were no longer sufficient to meet our demand for parking. Building a third deck will provide us with additional on-site parking and help alleviate congestion caused by patrons looking for a place to park,” DiVincenzo said.
“This is a great addition to Turtle Back Zoo. Not only does it provide additional park space but it improves the maintenance area,” Freeholder Patricia Sebold said. “This provides the zoo with 500 additional parking spaces to accommodate the number of visitors who are patronizing Turtle Back Zoo. This is the largest County facility in West Essex and we like what is happening here,” Freeholder Len Luciano said.
“As Turtle Back Zoo has grown in popularity, a by-produce has been the lack of parking spaces. Today, that problem is being addressed with this new deck,” Zoological Society of NJ Executive Director Adam Kerins said.
The popularity of Turtle Back Zoo has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and helped establish new annual attendance records in 14 of the last 15 years. Two on-site parking garages were built in 2004 and 2015, but additional parking was still needed. The third parking deck, which has spaces for about 500 vehicles, has been developed where the zoo’s maintenance and storage facilities were located. The first floor of the parking garage has been designed and outfitted as a new indoor maintenance and storage area. The freezer space for animal food has been doubled in size, there are electric charging stations for golf carts and other equipment used by zoo staff and locker rooms for staff. The covered facility will make operations more efficient and provide better working conditions and cleaner storage areas. Construction on the parking deck started in February and was completed in about 10 months.
To accommodate the third on-side parking deck, several hundred feet of track from the Turtle Back Zoo miniature train ride needed to be relocated and a new maintenance building needed to be constructed. These changes were completed in the spring of 2019, which allowed the construction of the deck to proceed.
Comito Associates from Newark received a $498,725 professional services contract to design the parking deck (It also included design services for the train maintenance building). DMD Contracting from Wayne was awarded a publicly bid $14.5 million contract to build the parking deck. The Essex County Department of Public Works monitored the project to ensure delays were avoided. Funding for the parking deck came from the Essex County Operating Budget.
Essex County Turtle Back Zoo has roared back to life from the verge of closure by a previous administration. Attendance reached an all-time high of 907,522 in 2017 and the zoo has operated as a self-sustaining facility with revenue collected exceeding operating expenses for the last eleven years. In addition, Turtle Back is accredited by American Humane, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Zoological Association of American, a clear indication that an institution is committed to the highest standards in animal care, ethics, conservation and education. It also has been named the Best Zoo in New Jersey by NJ Monthly magazine four times and received a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor.com three times.
The Zoo is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Current winter admission is $12 for adults, $10 for children and senior citizens, and free for children younger than 2 years. For more information, visit www.essexcountynj.org/turtlebackzoo or call 973-731-5800.
Revitalizing Essex County Turtle Back Zoo
Since taking office in 2003, DiVincenzo has spearheaded over $100 million in upgrades to Essex County Turtle Back Zoo, which have included developing an expanded entrance and patio, modernizing the miniature train maintenance building, developing the African Adventure with four Masai giraffes, lions and hyenas, and South African Penguins; the Drill Family Flamingo Exhibit; Leopard Exhibit; a new Educational Building; the Carousel with 33 figures of endangered animals; the Sea Lion Sound Exhibit with sea lions, sharks and sting rays; the Big Cat Country Exhibit with jaguars and cougars; Tam-ring Gibbons Reserve with white cheeked gibbons apes, Reeves muntjac and white naped cranes; Australian Exhibit that features kangaroos, wallabies, emus and over 500 birds in the Aviary; Reptile and Education Center, open air dining pavilion and playground, Penguin Exhibit, Otter Exhibit, Wolf Exhibit, Alligator Exhibit, North American Animal Exhibit, Black Bear Exhibit, Animal Hospital, Essex Farm Petting Zoo and South American Animal Exhibit; renovating the Food Pavilion for year-round use and making upgrades to the entrance as well as fencing and infrastructure to meet AZA requirements. Funding has been provided through Green Acres grants, existing capital improvement bonds, or donations from the Zoological Society, Essex County Parks Foundation, corporations or private foundations. Corporations that have provided support include Investors Bank, Prudential Financial, Inc., Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, PSE&G, Verizon, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Coca Cola, Capital One Bank, TD Bank, Aramark, Covanta Energy, Matrix Development Group, the family of Ronald Mount and OxyMagic carpet cleaning.
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 23 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, ice skating rink, roller skating rink, three public golf courses, golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, five off-leash dog facilities, a castle and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. Turtle Back Zoo is located in Essex County’s South Mountain Reservation and was opened to the public in 1963.