"We are still waiting to get together with the councillors. From my point of view it's important to know what direction council wants us to take, we've been working on a development plan that was approved by council in 2008 and that set our general direction over the years."
With 36 years involvement with zoos, Mr Standley said it is about the visitor experience.
"It's about making people enthusiastic about nature [and] the overall visitor experience. It is about people being excited and as a result learning about what they can do to help conserve the world's wild places."
Though a master plan is not required from the council under any act, it is feared zoo support will decline with no new reasons to visit, meaning a drop in revenue and increasing cost to ratepayers.
It is unlikely support will grow with the current inadequate visitor facilities, leading to poor customer experience on peak days.
"Part of the issue at the moment is on peak days we actually struggle.
"Our car park doesn't cope, and we know our front entrance facilities, our toilet facilities start to struggle once they reach those numbers," Mr Standley said. "We need to look at aspects such as whether development of the zoo will encourage more visitors, how we can use the zoo out of normal zoo hours."
During the summer months visitor numbers average 400-500, with peak days reaching upwards of 1000.
Visitor numbers have dropped to 121,270 in 2013-14 from 124,240 in 2007-8, but revenue has increased from $922,811 to $1.4m with a $300,000 increase in operating costs.
Half of Hamilton zoo visitors, 50 per cent, are New Zealanders from outside Hamilton, 10 per cent are international, and 40 per cent are local. Education visits made up 7819 of the total visitors.
Council have formed a working group, which will include Studio Hanson Roberts - an international business who provide planning, design and facilitation services in partnership with zoos, aquaria, botanic gardens and nature reserves world wide - along with councillors Philip Yeung, Angela O'Leary, and Rob Pascoe and other council staff.
The aim is to have a draft master plan completed during September and October and presented to the Strategy and Policy Committee in November this year in time for the Long Term Plan so any funding can be allocated.
There is an $80,000 budget for the development of a plan, which will be used toward Studio Hanson Roberts' fees.
Mr Standley said a crucial part of the plan would be Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park.
"There are lots of zoos worldwide that would be overjoyed to have a natural reserve on its door step. Zoos really want to do something with conservation on a broader scale. For a long time there has been a plan for shared front of house facilities - shared car park, cafe, education area, those sorts of things."
The zoo currently has around 600 animals, including New Zealand's only Brazilian Tapir.