The city of Los Angeles has been hit with a lawsuit over a City Council decision to green-light an expansion plan at the Los Angeles Zoo, with opponents saying the plan shouldn’t proceed until potential environmental impacts are fully addressed.
The Friends of Griffith Park and the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, asking a judge to rescind the City Council’s recent action.
According to group members, the council should not have certified the Environmental Impact Report associated with the project before specific plans for mitigating significant environmental impacts have been drawn up and the public is given an opportunity to properly vet them.
Officials at the L.A. Zoo, located in the city’s landmark Griffith Park, want to build a new visitor center and develop a wildlife exhibit in an open space area officials are calling “Condor Canyon.” Officials also want to modernize some facilities that were mostly built in the 1960s. Zoo officials have also said that the expansion would increase space for zoo animals by 162%.
But critics say the city’s plan would result in the destruction of 16 acres of native vegetation filled with natural wildlife. And while the project would improve zoo animal habitats, and is in line with the zoo’s mission to promote education and conservation in some respects, much of the plan is focused on creating an entertainment venue and event center, according to the petition filed in court.
Clare Darden, a trustee for the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust, said only 35% of the planned expansion is dedicated to animal-related improvements.
“What’s wrong with this picture? Attempts to add human entertainment gimmicks and other misguided distractions totally negates (the zoo’s) primary purpose as a top animal conservation/education center,” Darden said in a statement.
“Planning to demolish additional acres of healthy natural woodland habitat for any…
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