ELK GROVE, Calif. — An open house was held Saturday to give folks a chance to voice their opinions on what Sacramento's new zoo in Elk Grove could look like.
Franklin High School partnered with Elk Grove and debuted a virtual walkthrough of the new zoo, allowing people to have a closer look at what's to come.
Jason Hill on the design team was at the event to explain the immersive concept the zoo is trying to achieve.
“Size is, of course, the number one thing, but the other component is going to the natural and immersive quality of the exhibits so when you come to the zoo it is going to feel like you are on safari. You are going to be going through places, you aren’t going to see any barriers, you are going to get up close to those animals it’s a little different than the Sacramento zoo that was built 100 years ago,” said Hill.
Design firm SHR Studios told ABC10 it’s the first new zoo of this scale to be built in decades in the United States.
“Glad to see that the spaces will be larger for the animals and a nice pride rock for the lions,” said Kimberlie Kooken.
She and her family just bought a home in Elk Grove and are excited for this can mean for the future.
“[It's] a great opportunity for kids to be more involved in the zoo. If they live out here in the area, they can volunteer, it could maybe set the path for them as far as maybe them wanting to go into zoology or something along those lines with animals," said Kooken. "[I'm] excited to see where that takes us for our kids and kids in the community."
For long term residents like Eric Young, who lives adjacent to the zoo, he’s excited to just walk over with his nieces and nephews and watch the city grow.
“There is a lot of open land right now. They are building some homes, but people have a choice where they want to live if they don’t want to live adjacent to the zoo, they can live half mile away. We already have the casino so things are growing out here,” said Young.
The extension and space is needed.
The current zoo is 14 acres and the new one will be 55 acres. A zoo four times the size means more animals and more to be explored by junior adventurists.
While the excitement continues to grow before the ground is even broken, some are concerned about the smell and more traffic in the area from the zoo.
These plans were presented at Elk Grove City council last month, the council has approved $800,000 for the project. The design team will continue to seek community input throughout the process.
