Elk Grove leaders ‘excited’ as city may become Sacramento Zoo’s new home. Here’s the latest

Marcus D. Smith
·3 min read
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Elk Grove’s intent to be a relocation destination for the Sacramento Zoo remains ongoing, as design updates were shared with the city council and the public this week.

The city and Sacramento Zoological Society during Wednesday’s council meeting released new schematic designs of the project, giving the community and neighboring communities insight on where they are in the design process.

Elk Grove’s director of strategic planning and innovation, Christopher Jordan, presented ideas including giraffe feeding and restaurants with a dining view of the animals.

Interactive maps and 3D page designs gave a look at the concept of what the animal park might look like if it were to move from its current Land Park, a 14.7-acre location, to a 65-acre potential location in Elk Grove at Lotz Parkway and Kammerer Road.

There are expected to be just shy of 600 parking stalls and an overflow, self-parking lot nearby.

Jordan said city and zoo personnel have been discussing architecture, floor plans, exterior and interior design, material and color for buildings.

“We’re building a 3D model to think about spatially, in more detail. So just a lot of that’s been coming together,” Jordan said. “So it’s just, it’s really getting into some of the more mechanics, the nuts and bolts, about how the different constructability pieces interweave with each other.”

A schematic shows part of the layout for a potential zoo in Elk Grove. City leaders on Wednesday received an update on the plan to possibly relocate the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park to a larger site at Lotz Parkway and Kammerer Road in Elk Grove.
A schematic shows part of the layout for a potential zoo in Elk Grove. City leaders on Wednesday received an update on the plan to possibly relocate the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park to a larger site at Lotz Parkway and Kammerer Road in Elk Grove.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen expressed the city’s enamoration with the zoo and the possibility of making Elk Grove its new home.

Whenever Singh Allen is out grocery shopping, she said, people ask her, “What’s happening with the zoo? We’re so excited about that.”

Business groups and realtors, she said, have indicated their anticipation for the zoo. Teachers, staff and students of the Elk Grove Unified School District showed enthusiasm for the educational opportunities that it will provide.

“The economic development jobs, what it means for the region in saving the zoo, because that’s what it’s about,” Singh-Allen said. “It comes back to (Land Park) having outgrown the zoo. It has to go somewhere. And thankfully, we possibly have the space to make this sort of vision a reality.”

Zoo officials and the city are hosting a public open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 4 at Miwok Village Elementary School, 10070 Lousada Drive, in the school’s multipurpose room to give a view of the newest designs and other updates.

Singh-Allen said Wednesday’s update was “an excellent progress report” and she looks forward to the next series of updates.

Plans to relocate the zoo from it’s current location, where it has been for nearly a century, to Elk Grove have been in the works since 2021.

The planning commission and city council official hearings on the project are not scheduled until spring 2024.

If approved, city and zoo officials will release their environmental impact draft report and prepare the finance plan and operating agreement by winter 2024.