This artist’s rendering shows the proposed entrance to the zoo off Connecticut Avenue. (Courtesy of the National Capital Planning Commission)

Any good zoo has lots of fencing and cages to keep animals in. D.C.’s National Zoo wants to add even more—as part of an effort to tighten and streamline security for its human visitors.

The Smithsonian Institution, which manages the zoo, has submitted a plan to the National Capital Planning Commission to add more perimeter fencing around the zoo, and to reduce the number of pedestrian entrances from 13 to three. The NCPC will review the proposal next Thursday.

In a future phase of the project, the Smithsonian plans to build security checkpoints at entrances, according to NCPC documents that summarize the plan. It will also start construction soon on a multistory garage with over 1,000 spaces for cars that eventually will add an additional entrance.

“What we are doing is catching up to what everybody else has been doing,” Pamela Baker-Masson, the zoo’s associate director of communications, exhibits and planning, told WAMU. “Our whole institution realized we had to do a better job about visitor security,” she said.

The National Zoo is the only public Smithsonian without permanent security screening. The proposal states that the entrance will “maintain its welcoming feel while providing a clear threshold between the public sidewalk and the Zoo’s Olmstead Walk.”

Under the proposed plan, visitors on foot would be able to access the zoo only through three pedestrian entrances: the Connecticut Avenue entry, a bus lot off North Road and the Lower Zoo Entry on the zoo’s eastern edge. The security-screening checkpoint at Connecticut Avenue will include four screening stations with magnetometers.

The zoo also plans to add stronger fencing to certain areas of its perimeter. The fences would be 12 feet tall and thick enough to keep cars from crashing through them.

The proposed security checkpoints drew some criticism on social media. The zoo has long been praised for its open door policy, which allows out-of-town visitors and locals alike to wander in and out.

In response, Baker-Masson said the Zoo wants to remain welcoming and open to the community, but it considers safety its number one priority.

“It’s a beautiful park, but it would be irresponsible for us if we weren’t taking into consideration security and safety,” she said. “It goes for our visitors, it goes for our staff, and it goes for the animals. All three.”

Members of the public can comment on the proposal on the NCPC website.

This story originally appeared on WAMU. All references to NCPS have been updated to