LOS ANGELES — The City Council green-lighted a revised plan on Wednesday, Aug. 2 that will guide the physical transformation of the L.A. Zoo and explore the feasibility of expanding transit service to get there.
The council voted 13-0, with council members Paul Krekorian and Curren Price absent, to move forward with the Los Angeles Zoo Vision Plan, which lays out improvement of facilities and operations of the zoo.
“What we have before us now is a revised EIR (environmental impact report) for a new alternative that came out of that community engagement process, alternative 1.5,” said Councilwoman Nithya Raman, whose Fourth District includes the zoo.
According to Raman, the revised plan eliminates a large multi-story parking garage, which was contemplated in an earlier plan. It also restores and protects some of the most “vulnerable trees,” Coast Live oak trees, by leaving an undeveloped hillside in a proposed Africa exhibit area.
The revised plan commits to measures “to reduce vehicle miles traveled for visitors who are coming into the park,” Raman added. In addition, the revised plan proposes a smaller visitor center and moving it off a ridgeline.
The plans will also align with the city’s existing efforts to preserve wildlife crossings and natural areas. Blasting to demolish old infrastructure will be avoided, Raman noted.
“I feel really confident that the concerns that are out there right now are going to be able to be addressed in the next phase as we come back with these concrete designs,” Raman said.
Raman shared a personal anecdote of how her parents “never really wanted to be out in nature” and how camping was “not part of our cultural tradition.”
“I had a love of the environment, which came out of my engagement with my local zoo and my local aquarium,” Raman said.
With that story, she emphasized the need to invest and make the L.A. Zoo a state-of-the-art facility where Angelenos can engage with nature and…
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