\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Sacramento Zoo is seeking room to grow, and neighbors and zoo supporters got a closer look Wednesday night at what that could mean for Land Park as the zoo gathered public feedback on a proposal to expand by nearly 40%.At an open house, zoo leaders outlined a plan they say is needed to support the zoo\u2019s long-term future, improve animal habitats and enhance the visitor experience.\u201cThere are really a few different reasons, and a lot of it has to do just with our long-term sustainability on this site,\u201d Sacramento Zoo CEO Dan Simon said.Simon said the Sacramento Zoo is small compared with zoos serving similarly sized metropolitan areas.\u201cI think Sacramento Zoo for a metropolitan area of our size is very small,\u201d Ashe said, adding that San Antonio\u2019s zoo is about 55 acres while Sacramento\u2019s is about 14.6 acres.According to the proposal, the expanded footprint would add two new areas: 1.2 acres directly adjacent to the existing zoo, primarily along its northern boundary, and a 4.4-acre parcel across Land Park Drive.Ashe acknowledged concerns about what could happen if the zoo does not continue improving its facilities.Asked whether there is fear of losing accreditation without expansion, Ashe said, \u201cYeah, I think that\u2019s still out there.\u201dThe proposal comes after the Sacramento City Council last month allowed the expansion process to move forward.Some nearby residents said they support learning more about the project but want key concerns addressed.Kristina Rogers of the Land Park Community Association said traffic and pedestrian impacts need to be part of the discussion.\u201cWhile they\u2019re doing the expansion, they need to consider the pedestrian and traffic that\u2019s going to increase because of it,\u201d Rogers said.Rogers said she hopes the city and zoo consider ideas used elsewhere, including shuttle systems to reduce congestion.\u201cA lot of zoos in a lot of other areas work with cities and get sponsors to provide shuttles,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cThat really helps mitigate a lot of traffic.\u201dHeather Simoni, who lives in Land Park, said she attended the open house to better understand the proposal in person.\u201cI wanted to see the pictures bigger so I could read what was going on versus a little tiny phone or computer screen and have someone actually tell me what some of the exhibits would be,\u201d Simoni said.Zoo leaders said the public input process is still in its early stages and that feedback will continue to be collected over the summer before the proposal returns to the city council.The Sacramento City Council is scheduled to consider the zoo\u2019s expansion proposal on Sept. 1.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Sacramento Zoo is seeking room to grow, and neighbors and zoo supporters got a closer look Wednesday night at what that could mean for Land Park as the zoo gathered public feedback on a proposal to expand by nearly 40%.<\/p>\n
At an open house, zoo leaders outlined a plan they say is needed to support the zoo\u2019s long-term future, improve animal habitats and enhance the visitor experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are really a few different reasons, and a lot of it has to do just with our long-term sustainability on this site,\u201d Sacramento Zoo CEO Dan Simon said.<\/p>\n
Simon said the Sacramento Zoo is small compared with zoos serving similarly sized metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Sacramento Zoo for a metropolitan area of our size is very small,\u201d Ashe said, adding that San Antonio\u2019s zoo is about 55 acres while Sacramento\u2019s is about 14.6 acres.<\/p>\n
According to the proposal, the expanded footprint would add two new areas: 1.2 acres directly adjacent to the existing zoo, primarily along its northern boundary, and a 4.4-acre parcel across Land Park Drive.<\/p>\n
Ashe acknowledged concerns about what could happen if the zoo does not continue improving its facilities.<\/p>\n
Asked whether there is fear of losing accreditation without expansion, Ashe said, \u201cYeah, I think that\u2019s still out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposal comes after the Sacramento City Council last month allowed the expansion process to move forward.<\/p>\n
Some nearby residents said they support learning more about the project but want key concerns addressed.<\/p>\n
Kristina Rogers of the Land Park Community Association said traffic and pedestrian impacts need to be part of the discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile they\u2019re doing the expansion, they need to consider the pedestrian and traffic that\u2019s going to increase because of it,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n
Rogers said she hopes the city and zoo consider ideas used elsewhere, including shuttle systems to reduce congestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of zoos in a lot of other areas work with cities and get sponsors to provide shuttles,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cThat really helps mitigate a lot of traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heather Simoni, who lives in Land Park, said she attended the open house to better understand the proposal in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to see the pictures bigger so I could read what was going on versus a little tiny phone or computer screen and have someone actually tell me what some of the exhibits would be,\u201d Simoni said.<\/p>\n
Zoo leaders said the public input process is still in its early stages and that feedback will continue to be collected over the summer before the proposal returns to the city council.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento City Council is scheduled to consider the zoo\u2019s expansion proposal on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sacramento Zoo is seeking room to grow, and neighbors and zoo supporters got a closer look Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[18064,14852,57862,27283,3413,38018,11104,101848,9770,1741,671,148269,4975,121,15950,123,122,3332,148268,821,13473,103502],"class_list":["post-365353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-acre","tag-andres-valle","tag-ashe","tag-community-feedback","tag-concern","tag-dan-simon","tag-expansion","tag-kristina-rogers","tag-land-park","tag-lot","tag-more-coverage","tag-pedestrian-impact","tag-proposal","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-city-council","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sacramento-zoo","tag-shuttle-system","tag-traffic","tag-zoo","tag-zoo-expansion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}