Steinberg, City Council tap brakes on moving Sacramento Zoo to North Natomas park
A new study recommended the city move the Sacramento Zoo to North Natomas Regional Park, but it’s far from a done deal.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg tapped the brakes on the zoo relocation Tuesday, delaying a vote the City Council was scheduled to take to endorse the preferred site, which would have given the zoo the green light to start fundraising.
During the meeting, Steinberg said the reason for the delay was so he and Councilwoman Angelique Ashby could talk with the Sacramento Kings about future uses for the Sleep Train Arena in North Natomas — named as the “second option” for the zoo in the study, only usable if the city can gain ownership from the Kings.
But there was another reason for the delay — there are several other sites across the city, which were named in previous city studies, that Steinberg said should still be on the table.
“With the (coronavirus) pandemic still in full force, the issue of whether and where our zoo will relocate is not something we need to decide immediately,” Steinberg said in a statement Wednesday to The Sacramento Bee. “We can afford to take more time and make a careful choice that takes into consideration all of the community concerns, including those around equity. No properties are off the table at this point.”
One of the other sites is Bing Maloney Golf Course near Executive Airport — named as a “backup option” in the new study. Councilmen Jeff Harris and Larry Carr said that site would be better, from an equity perspective. Although the area is not considered disadvantaged, it is adjacent to the Meadowview neighborhood, and relatively close to the Parkway, Oak Park, and Valley Hi/North Laguna.
“Whenever we have an opportunity to invest in an undeserved community we somehow find a reason not to,” Carr said Tuesday in his last council meeting before retiring. “The criteria selected to eliminate Bing Maloney is a bogus criteria.”
A 2019 city staff report listed Bing Maloney as a “first tier” site along with the two Natomas sites. But the new study found that Bing Maloney might be used for practice fields for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise. Also, if the zoo were located there, it would mean the loss of the golf course, the study said.
Carr said he wanted another analysis that looked at the sites through an equity lens — a call now echoed by Steinberg.
“It isn’t to say the racial, gender, LGBT equity lens necessarily preordains the outcome, but it is an absolute essential and relevant part of the discussion,” Steinberg said.
Ashby said she supports an equity analysis, but said to eliminate the North Natomas sites before that analysis is done would be “an unfair criticism of Natomas.”
Although North Natomas is not considered disadvantaged, it is relatively close to Del Paso Heights and other underseved neighborhoods in North Sacramento.
Other sites included in previous city studies include the Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course in Freeport; Granite Regional Park, just east of Tahoe Park; and Del Paso Regional Park and Haggin Oaks Golf Course, both in North Sacramento. Those sites were not mentioned in the new study.
Jeff Dorso, senior vice president and general counsel for the Sacramento Kings, told the council he supports the 90-day delay while the Kings review the new study, which was released Thursday.
“We think the importance of the issue merits further consideration and just the ability to review the report,” Dorso told the council.
The Kings in November 2018 submitted plans with the city to build up to 2,000 housing units, as well as retail and office space at the Sleep Train site. It’s unclear what the status of those plans are, but it’s possible there would be room on the 183-acre site for that development, as well as the zoo. The zoo would go on a vacant lot north of the old arena.
“We will review the report and continue to work with the city on a flexible master entitlement plan that has the ability to accommodate a range of development uses,” the Kings said in a statement Wednesday.
The study said the new zoo should be 50 acres, not including parking — much larger than the 14 acres the zoo has outgrown in Land Park, where it’s been since 1927. The relocation would cost $83 million, including $50 million for the first phase, which would likely take about three years to raise, the study said.
The city is not being asked to commit any public money at this time, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.
