By Associated Press - Saturday, March 6, 2021

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Tucson’s mayor is calling for a pause to a long-planned multimillion-dollar expansion of the Reid Park Zoo due to controversy that it could result in the loss of park space to accommodate new zoo facilities.

Tucson voters approved funding for the project in 2017 and construction is poised to start this spring, but Mayor Regina Romero said it should be paused because there hasn’t been a resolution of residents’ concerns.

The two main issues are the anticipated loss of a “cherished area” within the park and whether project supporters were transparent before city voters approved a sales tax increase for the project in 2017 about the planned zoo improvements and expansion, Romero said.

“The ballot language approved by voters in 2017 was ‘to fund capital improvements, operations, and maintenance,’ and did not mention expansion,” Romero said.

Romero said she hopes there can be talks that produce “common ground” and a solution that’s acceptable to all.

Thousands of people have signed a petition opposing the planned 3.5-acre expansion that’d use public park green space, including a duck pond, and dozens gathered at the park on Feb. 28 to protest.

“I’m hearing from people who had their wedding right there, graduation photos right there, met their husbands,” said Manon Getsi, one of the protesters.

City Council member Steve Kozachik disputed that there was insufficient public input and said the project should move forward.

Romero, then a council member, in 2018 made a motion to approve the plan that had evolved during multiple public meetings during the year following the sales tax vote, Kozachik said.

Concerns recently voiced about the project haven’t been ignored and there have been meetings aimed at “finding a win-win path forward,” Kozachik said.

However, millions of dollars already spent on the project “will be wasted if we change course” and the city’s own credibility will be in question, he said.

Unless there are superior solutions that honor the concepts of the expansion project, “we must move ahead in this direction,” Kozachik said.

Council member Paul Cunningham said he supported Romero’s call.

“We need to have the conversation as a community what the best options are,” Cunningham said.

The Reid Park Zoological Society said it was “surprised and deeply disappointed” by Romero’s call for a pause.

“From the onset of our work to improve the Zoo, and this project in particular, the Zoological Society has meticulously followed the City of Tucson’s communications protocols and their direction with designing plans for the project, including the area they approved,” the group said in statement.

The City Council is scheduled to review the project Tuesday.

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