Barrier will divide Blank Park Zoo, sex offenders

Construction could start as soon as this fall on a $1 million barrier to separate sex offenders housed at Fort Des Moines from thousands of people who visit the Blank Park Zoo.

The Fort Des Moines community correctional facility, adjacent to the zoo, houses 279 offenders, including 15 sex offenders. Some offenders have already spent time in prison; others are there as a condition of probation.

The Iowa Legislature appropriated $1 million for the barrier earlier this year. That decision came after lawmakers rescinded $18 million in state funding to construct a new correctional facility northeast of Des Moines where the sex offenders were to have been transferred. The spending cut occurred as legislators trimmed an already tight state budget.

Mark Vukovich, the zoo's chief executive officer, said last week the barrier will be included in the design of a $15 million zoo expansion project starting this fall and to be completed in phases through May 2013. The work will include moving the zoo entrance about a quarter-mile north of where it is now.

So far, Vukovich said, there have been no troubles with offenders entering the zoo grounds. "We have had some occasionally stumble in, but there have not been any issues that I am aware of," he said. But as the zoo expands farther north, moving closer to the Fort Des Moines correctional facility and drawing more children and their families, the need for a barrier will increase, Vukovich said. The zoo drew about 400,000 patrons last year and is expected to reach 500,000 annually after the expansion.

Work on the barrier should begin this fall or sometime next year, depending on the progress of the expansion project, he said. The barrier's south side will include an earthen berm with trees and shrubs to match zoo exhibits. The barrier's north side, which won't be seen by most zoo-goers, will probably have a security fence. The Blank Park Zoo, which opened in 1966, and the Fort Des Moines Correctional Facility, which opened in 1970, have coexisted for decades with relatively few conflicts.

But some Des Moines south-side residents complained last year after Michael McGill, a sex offender, was slated to be sent to Fort Des Moines. McGill, now 51, was quickly returned to prison after threatening to commit new sex crimes. He is now at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison. Jo Corigliano, president of the South Side Revitalization Partnership, said last week she is unhappy that sex offenders are still at Fort Des Moines. Constructing a barrier isn't a good solution, she said.

"Heavens no. I am not satisfied with that. I think it is misguided and short-sighted," Corigliano said.

She believes all sex offenders should be removed from Fort Des Moines, although she doesn't object to other offenders being housed there for minor crimes. State Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said the barrier is a short-term fix. He believes the Fort Des Moines correctional facility is incompatible with the south-side neighborhood.

Over the next five years, McCoy said state officials should develop plans to relocate the Fort Des Moines facility to an area that is largely industrial and away from homes. He said the Fort Des Moines correctional facility is aging, and it would be more cost effective to build a new facility elsewhere. State officials have estimated the relocation cost at $35 million to $40 million.

"Obviously, this is going to involve a great deal of money. So we need a plan and we need to determine how we are going to fund it," McCoy said.

Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said prison officials intend to request state funding during the 2011 legislative session to build a new 170-bed community corrections facility in the Des Moines area. The plan anticipates the existing Fort Des Moines facility would remain open to help address a shortage of beds for community corrections programs. The proposal must first win approval from the Iowa Board of Corrections and the governor before it can be submitted to lawmakers, he said.