Mayor: Reid Park Zoo expansion should be paused pending further community engagement

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has called for the Reid Park Zoo expansion to be paused immediately as city and zoo leaders work to resolve growing community concerns about how the project will affect the park.

City officials have been inundated with complaints from community members over the last several months, who say they were blindsided after finding out the zoo’s 3½-acre expansion this spring would extend into Reid Park across Lakeshore Drive, taking over the park’s southern duck pond and Barnum Hill.

“I have provided the privilege to the council member representing the area and the Reid Park Zoological Society to reach a resolution with community members. However, it has become clear to me that resolution to this issue is not on the horizon,” Romero said Wednesday. “This is why I am compelled as mayor to help find common ground by calling for a pause on this project so that the different parties can come to the table.”

In addition to many other improvement projects, the zoo was preparing to begin a 3½-acre expansion this spring, a project designed to transport visitors to Asia with a larger tiger habitat, an aviary, a reptile house and several new animal species.

The “Pathways to Asia” expansion is the next step in a 10-year, $80 million plan to renovate and improve the zoo, which has been a staple in the Tucson community for more than 50 years. Voters approved the initiative in 2017 when they voted yes on a one-tenth of 1% sales tax increase for the next decade, providing between $8 million and $10 million in annual funding for improvements to the zoo.

While most people agree that improvements to the zoo are important to both the city and the animals, some community members feel the expansion into Reid Park, and ultimately the loss of Barnum Hill and the southern duck pond, will eliminate access to a public, green area frequented by many residents. They also feel there wasn’t enough transparency about the potential expansion when this issue was placed on the ballot.

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“This issue is fundamentally about the trust that Tucson voters place in their local government, specifically the institutions that use their tax dollars,” Romero said. “The ballot language approved by voters in 2017 was ‘to fund capital improvements, operations and maintenance,’ and did not mention expansion. All public meetings to discuss specific expansion plans, which by almost all accounts were poorly attended due to insufficient outreach to surrounding neighborhoods, were conducted in 2018 and 2019, after the tax was approved by voters.”

In a statement Wednesday, the Reid Park Zoological Society said they were "surprised and deeply disappointed" in Romero's request that the expansion be put on hold, saying they have made a meticulous effort to follow the city's communication protocols throughout the planning process and that the expansion design was previously approved by city leaders.

"There have been some inaccurate statements made by an opposition group that have painted a false picture of the project, as well as the public process and the depth of community support,' the statement said. 'The Zoological Society looks forward to continued discussion with City leadership and members of our community to bring Zoo improvements to fruition, which will be a source of delight, wonder and exploration for the children of Tucson who deserve a world-class zoo."

More than 30,000 Tucsonans have signed a petition opposing the zoo’s expansion into Barnum Hill and the pond, an effort that was created by a community-led group called Save the Heart of Reid Park. 

The Tucson City Council will likely take action on this issue at their regularly scheduled meeting next week. 

“Many have also made the argument that we should proceed with expansion since dollars have already been spent for preliminary planning. Unfortunately that is the potential cost of poor community engagement,” she said. “Involving the community must not be viewed as inconvenient; instead, it must be intentional and representative of community stakeholders. When organized correctly, it can actually improve the results.”