A total of 46 community members contributed $25,000, matching a donation of $25,000 earlier this year from the city council to cover the cost of the plan.  Last year, a phase one study done by Richmond based Chmura Economics and Analytics recommended a facility of approximately 21,850 square feet, including 10,000 square feet of exhibit space, at a cost of $7.3 million. Some of that cost could be trimmed if already existing buildings are used, instead of new construction. The master plan study will also examine where the best possible location would be.

Leading the way to design the master plan will be Maryland-based design firm Quatrefoil. One of the group’s founding partners, Abbie Chessler, told those gathered Thursday she was especially encouraged by the attitude from the community, in regards to the planned museum.

“One of the things I really like about Waynesboro is the enthusiasm,” Chessler said. “We felt that from the beginning of our conversations.”

Chessler said that she and her team will be in the city several times this fall, hosting a variety of workshops where local residents can tell them what types of things they want to see in the museum. She emphasized that the workshops would be for parents, teachers, children and anyone else who wanted to share opinions.

“What I find is that it’s very important to have input from the community,” Chessler said. “It’s your museum.”

Both Chessler and Keiper pointed out the support the project has received from not just Waynesboro, but a large number of groups throughout the area. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wants to work with the new facility, as do officials from the Shenandoah National Park.

“Park officials have already told me that a healthy community surrounding the park makes for a healthy national park,” Keiper said. He explained that park officials volunteered to help market the project to the 300,000 who travel through the area where Skyline Drive meets the Blue Ridge parkway.

In addition, Keiper wants to bring in the Waynesboro-based Wildlife Center of Virginia for programs, once the museum is built, as well as local schools. Keiper told those gathered that he and his team set up interviews with local science teachers from Waynesboro Public Schools, as well as those at Fishburne Military Academy. For both these schools and some further out, Keiper said the museum’s board of trustees has authorized once the facility is operational, to give these school districts what’s referred to as scholarship funds, collected during the group’s annual fundraisers. That means instead of having parents pay for their children to take a field trip and instead of local school districts covering the cost of a bus and driver, that money will be provided by the museum itself.

Taking the next steps

Once information has been collected from the workshops, then the Quatrefoil team will look at the question of where the best spot is in the city to house the facility. The earlier study recommended three potential sites for the museum. The first was in downtown Waynesboro, either at 320 West Main Street or using the Mill at South River. The second location was at the Waynesboro Industrial Park, just off Exit 96 from Interstate 64 and the third was on Lew Dewitt Boulevard near Zeus Digital Theater. In addition to answering those questions, Keiper said the master plan will include details about exhibits in the facility, which will be tailor made to fit the local community.

“Our museum has 10 million specimens and artifacts in our holdings and probably another 10 million in our catalog,” Keiper said. “That’s a lot of stuff representing the natural sciences. What we’ll do here is tell stories that nobody else on the planet can tell. Some miles south of here, there’s a mountaintop and on that mountaintop is a type of salamander that’s found nowhere else on Earth. This plan will give you the first look at what the programs will be, at what the visitor experience will be like.”

The master plan process is expected to take six months, finishing in early 2015. Then in February, Keiper said the group will unveil the designs and what the project will look like, both at a special event here in Waynesboro and at an event with the board of trustees in Richmond.

Then throughout the first part of 2015, Keiper said his team will be finalizing paperwork, to make sure they’ve filed everything in accordance with Virginia code requirements. Once that’s finished and a final price tag has been established, the group will put out for grant funding and start collecting the money needed to start construction.

A look at the numbers

The earlier report by Richmond-based Chumura found that a facility in Waynesboro would bring in an estimated 65,582 people each year from eleven cities, including Waynesboro, Staunton, Harrisonburg, Buena Vista and Charlottesville, as well as the counties of Augusta, Albemarle and Nelson.

Chmura also projected revenues and expenses for a Waynesboro site, finding that the facility would likely be profitable in its first year. The report planned admission costs at $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and college students and $3 for children ages 3 to 18. From admissions alone, the Waynesboro site would be expected to bring in $196,746 its first year, combined with an expected $70,000 in museum memberships and $57,500 in donations. That would bring total revenues to $324,246, with payroll and other expenses taking out $242,250, leaving a net profit of $81,996.

Keiper said he and his team were glad to be finally on the way toward producing a result.

“We’ve done all of our homework and we’re moving forward,” Keiper said. “Now we’re actually going to create a product.”