ALABAMA STATE EDITION
231
65
72 Florence
2
Huntsville
20 Decatur
72
565 59
43
A Supplement to:
231
431
31
5
Gadsden
78 59 Anniston
20
Birmingham Bessemer
82 Tuscaloosa
65 280
20 82 Auburn
80
85
Selma
Phenix City
Montgomery
82
April 3 2013 Vol. XXIV • No. 7
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
Dothan
65 98
Mobile
10
Your Alabama Connection • Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Work Continues on Alabama’s ‘The Little Zoo That Could’ By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
An Alabama zoo that made national headlines in the midst of two hurricanes is poised to make history again. Land has been cleared for the new Gulf Shores facility that will become the world’s first environmentally sustainable zoo. “It won’t be conventional in any sense,” said builder and architect Dennis Thomas, who designed the vertical zoo. “This is about thinking outside the box and creating a place that’s safe for animals and good for the environment.” The new Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo will sit on elevated terrain protecting it from flooding due to hurricane storm surge, and the entire facility will be constructed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds. It will aim for the highest recognition in environmental sustainability through LEED, which is Platinum certification. Zoo officials unveiled a billboard Structures and materials used on Alabama Route 59 announcing will be non-toxic, natural or their plans for the new zoo. organic, biodegradable and recyclable. Alternative power that will be user-friendly and show sources will be used including people how they too can have a solar panels, wind turbines, ground positive impact on the environsource heating pumps, ultraviolet ment.” The new zoo, which has light and propagated algae as a bioreceived the official go ahead from fuel. “It’s off the grid and totally the Gulf Shores city council, will green,” said Thomas, who has use the latest green technologies worked on projects all over the behind-the-scenes during daily world and helped design parts of operations and will offer educathe San Diego Zoo, as well as the tional displays and exhibits to help Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney visitors understand how the future World. “We’ve tried to keep the is being brought into the present. According to zoo Board natural flow of the land. We’ve got about 43 total acres of property, Chairman Steve Jones, “A signifiand we are extremely excited to cant amount of groundwork has have the opportunity to build a zoo been performed at the new loca-
Located less than a mi. north of the Gulf of Mexico, the current zoo was threatened by rising waters during 2004’s Hurricane Ivan and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. A total of 270 animals and birds had to be evacuated to zoo director Patti Hall’s Elberta home before both storms.
tion, and an evacuation building has already been constructed. A number of funding grants have been submitted and are under consideration, and we have two individuals out seeking donors and funding from sources well outside this area. This project will gain worldwide attention once we begin going vertical, and we believe that will trigger other interests that want to be a part of this amazing new project.” All of the earthwork has been completed for enough zoo to be built and opened. The maintenance
building is the current office of new zoo development and will serve as construction offices and storage. The lakes are in and parking has been laid. During construction, crews used primarily John Deere equipment to complete a variety of tasks. Two large track hoes were used to dig the lakes, while front-end loaders relocated the soil that had to be moved in place. Close to $2 million has been spent on land preparation. Construction was overseen by David Hall, who said the new zoo will be like nothing visitors have
experienced before. In preparing the land, crews had to deal with long-abandoned farmland that included small ponds and oaks, much like a pasture. “We left the area pretty much as is, because it looked like an African plain, said. Thomas. “For some of the work we relied on a flatblade dozer, a road grader and an aggregate for the road itself. “With the lakes, for example, we had to lay things out and determine the amount of earth to be removed, which was around 3,000 cubic yards. One lake is five feet higher, and there are two lemur islands. The lemurs don’t swim, so the keeper, wearing rubber boots, will use a two-foot deep sunken walkway to service both islands.” Jones said, “The first goal will be to build enough infrastructure to move the animal population and get the operation up and running. That would entail night houses, a couple of exhibits, the gift shop and staff areas. The major larger areas of the zoo will grow as revenues allow. The entire project is not designed to be built out all at once, as the construction of new things is part of the evolution of the zoo. It lends interest and keeps things fresh for visitors. We’re hopeful that by end of this summer some funding sources will have been identified, materials can be ordered and construction can commence.” Located less than a mi. north of the Gulf of Mexico, the current zoo was threatened by rising waters during 2004’s Hurricane Ivan and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. A total of 270 animals had to be evacuated to zoo director Patti Hall’s Elberta home before both storms. The fullscale evacuation even prompted a see ZOO page 2