The public gets to weigh in on BREC’s desire to move the Baton Rouge zoo from its current north Baton Rouge site to a yet-to-be determined south Baton Rouge location at a community meeting set for this evening.
The ongoing debate over the proposal has heated in recent months, dividing residents and city leaders into two camps: those who support moving the zoo and replacing it with a multiuse park, and those who want major upgrades to the zoo in its current location. Unclear is whether either side is willing to budge. Critics argue BREC has been unwilling to look at alternatives, while BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight says numerous public meetings have been held to gather input.
“I just don’t think they have looked at our idea,” says Coleman Brown, who plans to attend tonight’s meeting and hopes to work with BREC on an alternative to moving the zoo. “We’ve looked at their idea and we don’t like it.”
A vocal group of opponents have already made their voices heard over the past several months, calling the move “disinvestment” in north Baton Rouge and questioning a feasibility study conducted on the idea. A coalition of north Baton Rouge and Mid City community leaders and residents have been the most vocal opponents.
But BREC cites the study—conducted in 2015 by Philadelphia-based consulting firm Schulz & Williams—as hard evidence that relocating the zoo would save money and transform Greenwood Community Park, the zoo’s current location, into a better attraction.
“We have held more than 140 face-to-face meetings with people across the community, explaining our ideas and why this would be a sound business decision for the entire parish,” McKnight said in an email. “We generally find that by the end of the meetings, participants better understand the reality of the situation and leave feeling excited about the possibilities. My hope is that we see the same outcome tonight.”
It would cost the same—roughly $110 million—to relocate the zoo or renovate it in its current location, BREC says, though it would take 10 more years to renovate the current zoo and would attract less visitors.
Critics have questioned those numbers, along with surveys of residents and business leaders about whether BREC should relocate the zoo and redo Greenwood Community Park.
“I don’t believe they’re being forthright when they’re presenting the info they’re presenting,” says Becky Bond, a member of the City Center Development District, which opposes moving the zoo. “We’ve said repeatedly ‘give us your data, let us look at it.’ They’ve repeatedly refused.”
—Sam Karlin
