The feud between the Memphis Zoo and the Overton Park Conservatory over who gets custody of the Greensward might have been settled on Tuesday night.
The Memphis City Council members awarded the majority of the Greensward to the zoo in an 11-1 vote.
However, the fight is far from over if the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park has anything to say about it.
Jessica Buttermore, president of the organization, wants to keep the cars off the grass in Overton Park.
She said they would continue to fight for the Greensward to not be used for parking.
“Our main goal is to keep the Greensward used for its intended purpose of a park, not parking,” Buttermore said. “The Evergreen Historic District Association has already filed an injunction.”
The Greensward is a grassy area located in Overton Park south of the zoo and west of Rainbow Lake.
It has been used for overflow parking for the zoo since the mid-1990s.
There has been a lot of controversy in recent years surrounding how the Greensward is used.
In a meeting on Feb. 24, Overton Park Conservatory suggested 20 different solutions to keep cars off the Greensward and also have enough parking for everyone.
Many of those solutions could be implemented immediately and would not cost very much money, Buttermore said.
“A huge suggestion is to have an app to show how many parking spots are left,” she said.
The Zoo will be opening their newest exhibit, the Zambezi River Hippo Camp, in the spring of 2016.
It is expected to attract many visitors, especially on free Tuesdays. Julie Tanner, 31, education sophomore at the University of Memphis, enjoys taking her 8 and 4-year-old sons to the Zoo on free day.
“It gets expensive to go on other days, but parking is awful on Tuesdays,” Tanner said. “I don’t like parking on the grass, but I also don’t know what else they can do.”
Melissa McMasters, director of communication for the Conservatory, said there’s still much to be determined about the Greensward.
“We’ll be working with the city and the Zoo to determine what the new boundary line is, whose responsibility it is to maintain the landscaping and schedule events on the Greensward,” McMasters said.
The Conservatory will remain committed to caring for the Greensward, no matter what happens, McMasters said.
The resolution by the council was filed on Tuesday and will be implemented immediately.
This is not the first time that the Conservatory has been at odds with the Zoo.
In January, the Zoo removed 27 trees from Greensward area.
When employees of the Conservatory noticed the missing trees the next day, they called the police.
There was no legal action taken because removing the trees was not illegal.
The only member who voted against the resolution, city councilman Martavious Jones, was not avaliable to comment on why he did so.
