Oakland Zoo expansion plans ruffle some feathers

OAKLAND -- The Oakland Zoo is planning its first major expansion in nearly 50 years, hoping to push into 45 acres of Knowland Park, boost its annual visitors by 100,000 and add new animal exhibits, a veterinary hospital and a gondola ride.

The new exhibits are part of "California!," which will showcase the state's native plants and animals such as the grizzly bear, mountain lion, jaguar, wolf, eagle and California condor.

But some zoo neighbors aren't happy about the zoo's eastward expansion into Knowland Park. They don't want lose open space to the zoo, noting that the 525-acre Knowland Park is public land deeded to the city.

"We're not opposed to the zoo as an entity," said Jason Webster, a member of the grassroots group Friends of Knowland Park, which wants to preserve the open space. "A majority of us respect the zoo. We're asking the zoo to restrict expansion."

About 50 residents met with Councilman Larry Reid, whose district includes the zoo, and zoo staff at a Feb. 28 community meeting to discuss the expansion.

But it may be a moot point.

The East Bay Zoological Society, which runs the zoo and also maintains Knowland Park, and residents reached consensus on the zoo's master plan in 1998, when the plan was approved by the city council. The master plan included the expansion. Reid said the plan followed 18 months of negotiations between the zoo and residents.

"The issues were resolved," Reid said. "That's why the planning commission and the council approved the master plan. You don't go back and change the plan every time there are new residents that move into the area and find out about the issue, and then expect the zoo to change the plan."

But critics complain the zoo -- which attracts about 550,000 visitors a year -- has altered its plans from what the council approved in 1998.

Fabomi Ojuola, who was president of the South Hills homeowners association in 1998 and involved in the negotiating process, said that the zoo has added more -- and bigger -- buildings.

"One of the buildings is a three-story massive building," Ojuola said, referring to the visitors center. "That was never in the original plan."

Zoo Executive Director Joel Parrott acknowledges that parts of the plan have changed, but the overall idea of it -- the "California!" exhibits -- remains the same.

What was a breeding center is now the veterinary hospital, in a slightly different location, he said. An interpretive center is now a visitor's center, which will also serve food and be the entrance for a ski lift-like gondola ride, which would bring visitors from the existing part of the zoo to the new exhibits.

Parrott, who is also a veterinarian, said the zoo hopes to begin construction in two years and complete the expansion in five years.

He said it will likely begin with the veterinary hospital because the current hospital, built in 1961, is out of date and undersized.

About $12.5 million in Measure G money has been allocated for "California!" The 2002 voter-approved bond measure funded education facilities at the Chabot Space and Science Center, the zoo and the Oakland Museum. The zoo also has another $1 million to spend and has launched a capital campaign to raise the remainder of the estimated $54 million needed to complete the expansion.

"It's really an incredibly exciting project," said Parrott, who has been executive director since 1985. He added that educating people could potentially have a larger impact on saving open space.

The zoo plans to fence off about 45 acres of land; about 18 acres will contain actual exhibits, according to Parrott. He calls this a "soft development" that still preserves much of the natural habitat. Much of Knowland Park is steep and inaccessible. The zoo also plans to expand its overnight experiences by building a campground for overnight stays for children and families.

Webster said that he thinks some of the plan makes sense, such as the campground and exhibiting animals that are now extinct in California, like the grizzly bear, wolf and jaguar.

But he and others would like the council to re-evaluate the expansion. They are also concerned about increased traffic in the area from the zoo's growth and also the nearby Oak Knoll Naval hospital development, which plans to build more than 950 homes.

Concerned citizens also say the zoo was never required to do an Environmental Impact Report.

"I think the most important issue for so many of us is this open space, the land throughout the Bay, has been disappearing over the years," said Webster, who accuses zoo officials of a "land grab."

But he is biased, he admits. Webster moved to Oakland about four years ago and proposed to his wife on what's known as "Heart Attack Hill" in Knowland Park.

The area's soft, rolling hills overlook the Bay -- a breathtaking and somewhat unknown location, except to local residents, dog walkers and hikers. The park is open to the public, but there are no official entrances to this part of the park east of the zoo except from small residential side streets, such as Cameron Avenue and Lochard Street.