Citizen Groups’ Email to Mayor and City Council

July 16, 2021

Dear Mayor and City Council,

The central feature of the motion you passed on May 4 for the Reid Park Zoo expansion is minimizing the use of Reid Park green space. That also reflects a core value of all of the citizen groups who participated in the Community Conversation process. With the dire effects of climate change, the cooling effect of open green space and trees in Reid Park is more urgently needed than ever before.

The initial invitation from the City Manager’s office to discuss design for the Reid Park Zoo expansion on July 10 was issued to a small number of community stakeholders and did not mention streaming the meeting. It also left out all but one of the citizens who had taken the Reid Park storage yard tour on May 28.

The July 10 meeting made it again very clear that the community should be involved in the process of planning the Reid Park Zoo expansion. Community stakeholders requested, on May 4 and May 13, to be involved from the beginning in implementing Mayor and Council’s May 4 directive. Instead, they were left out of the process for two months. This means that planning moved forward without the benefit of those people who are most affected and most engaged in saving the open-access green space in Reid Park. The problems reported on July 10 might well have already been solved if community stakeholders had been included from the start.

During the July 10 meeting City staff presented new criteria for evaluating potential zoo expansion sites that had not been brought up previously. They presented noise as a critical criterion affecting animal welfare and said that loud, unexpected noises could not only make a breeding program difficult but could also kill tigers. They provided no evidence of what decibel levels big cats can thrive under or just how many "unexpected" noises they can tolerate. They also had no data on noise levels in Reid Park, particularly data covering areas for all of the current zoo expansion options.

We were informed that based on the noise criterion the G-Minor plan was no longer feasible. Instead the City Manager’s office promoted an option that pushes the zoo expansion against practice ball fields and closer to the DeMeester Amphitheater, which are also sources of loud, sporadic noise.

Instead of showing a design that makes it possible to minimize the use of park green space, they showed repackaged D and D-G Hybrid options, the options they had announced as their preferred plans before your May 4 motion. These would involve covering over a large area of Reid Park green space with concrete, cutting off public access and increasing the heat island effect.

At least one of the designs presented on July 10 also appears to show a zoo expansion footprint that is larger than the 4.2 acres that were planned for in the 2018 Reid Park Zoo Master Plan. There is nothing in the May 4 directive about increasing the size of the zoo expansion.

The undersigned do not support the repackaged D and D-G Hybrid options. We continue to support the G-Minor plan, which includes an expansion not to exceed 4.2 acres as well as keeping Lakeshore Lane intact as a natural boundary that allows good traffic flow and protects the park from encroachment of the zoo into green space, now and under future City Councils.

If too many unexpected sounds affect the big cats, we wonder if Reid Park is really the best place to start a breeding program for them, considering all of the noises in the park itself and from the Davis Monthan overflights and 22nd Street traffic (including emergency vehicle sirens and roaring motorcycles).

We oppose damage to Reid Park's beautiful views (known as “sightlines”) and loss of any contiguous green space. We understand that park goers don't want to feel fenced in within their beautiful park, an effect the new D and Hybrid D-G (“Claw”) options would create. We are sure that with collaboration a design solution that meets all criteria can be found.

At the July 10 meeting, the Interim Assistant City Manager agreed to support establishment of a “charette” with design/expert representation from the involved community/neighborhoods, the Reid Park Zoological Society (RPZS), and the City. The charrette is to seek solutions to issues raised by the RPZS and the City in regard to the G-Minor plan. We urge Mayor and Council to assure that the charrette begins its work promptly and to establish an ongoing citizen oversight committee that meets regularly and reviews the results that come out of the charrette.

There’s been some misunderstanding about continuing public participation in this process and one council member seems to believe it is over. However, Saturday’s meeting showed that public involvement in this project is important and will continue. Your clarification of this will be key.

This letter is signed by 11 former Core Stakeholder Group members, ten participants in the Community Dialogue Circles, and residents of the neighborhoods Reid Park who’ve been active in community planning regarding the issue of Reid Park Zoo expansion. A more detailed letter on the understandings and questions of the July 10 meeting may follow.

[Editor’s note: This letter was signed by 26 people from the following neighborhoods: Arroyo Chico, Barrio Centro, Colonia Solana, Julia Keen, Montevideo, San Clemente, San Gabriel, and Sam Hughes. Of those 26, the following granted permission to post their names here. Not all signers responded to requests for permission.]