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Support given to zoo proposal

Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

The couple proposing a zoo in Floyd Lamb Park received a promise from the city Wednesday to exclusively negotiate the project with them, in exchange for their commitment to spend up to $2 million on a study to determine whether the idea could be profitable.

"Unlike other proposed ventures, $1 million is already in the bank," said Bank of America senior vice president Roger Bullock, who said he was the private banker for Ed and Mona Sher, the couple making the proposal.

Bullock said the Shers already have spent about $250,000 on a charette, a planning process to which some major figures in theme park and event planning lent their expertise.

He also said that while the word "zoo" has been used to describe the project, it would take shape more like a theme park akin to Sea World or Busch Gardens.

"This is not a zoo in the typical sense," Bullock said, explaining that the Shers envisioned other attractions -- such as a children's museum -- to develop alongside the animal attraction.

He also said that 100 acres of the park and lake already on site would be left alone.

Ed Sher said that the proposal had been endorsed recently by the Nevada Zoological Society, a nonprofit group that has been trying to place a zoo in Las Vegas.

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