Oregon Zoo to seek $380 million bond in May

Metro will ask voters to approve a $380 million bond for zoo improvements in May.

The bond would pay to overhaul the Oregon Zoo’s penguin and sea otter habitats, upgrade the giraffe habitat and other parts of the zoo’s Africa area and improve the paths that visitors travel between habitats

The zoo gets roughly 1.3 million visits per year, including more than 400,000 visits by children.

In addition to habitat improvements, the new bond “would create enhanced opportunities for visitors to engage with animals, make it easier for people of all abilities to navigate pathways and plazas on the zoo’s hilly campus and provide better protection from heat and extreme weather for animals, visitors and staff,” according to Metro.

Voters approved a zoo bond in 2008, which funded improvements to 40% of the zoo campus. The last funds from that initiative were used up in 2021, but taxpayers will continue paying off the bonds through 2028. That bond was worth just a third of what Metro is now proposing, but funded construction of a veterinary medical center and an education center and built new habitats for elephants, condors, primates and polar bears.

The 2008 bond projects reduced the zoo’s water consumption by nearly 60%, zoo director Heidi Rahn told Metro Council at a Feb. 1 meeting. Before becoming zoo director in 2021, Rahn had spent five years overseeing implementation of the 2008 bond.

The proposed bond also aims to reduce the zoo’s water and energy use.

“New habitats will incorporate modern standards for animal health and well-being,” Rahn said, including “better refuge from heat and extreme weather” and “continuity of animal care in the case of a natural disaster.”

The January ice storm showed “how critical these kinds of updates are,” as the zoo lost power for nearly two days during the storm, relying on backup power supplies that were fortunately upgraded through the 2008 bond, Rahn said.

Metro said the new bond “is projected not to increase current tax rates, as payments on previous bonds wind down.” Metro’s overall bond levy rate is roughly 40 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, which includes the 2008 zoo bond and two natural areas bonds, one approved in 2006 and one approved in 2019.

The average estimated rate for the proposed zoo bond is 8.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. For a home assessed at $275,000, property taxpayers would pay less than $24 a year, which is the cost for a single adult admission to the zoo.

Metro encompasses the urban areas of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, with nearly 1.7 million residents. The agency manages the Oregon Zoo, Convention Center, Expo Center and more than two dozen parks and historic cemeteries.

The proposed bond would be guided by a new zoo master plan currently under development. The Metro Council approved guiding concepts for the Oregon Zoo Campus Plan in October 2023, with the final plan expected to be approved by this summer.

The plan will lay out a vision for zoo development over the next 20 years, though the new bond projects are expected to be completed in the next 10 to 15 years.

Plans include a new entry plaza and upgrades to the Great Northwest zone, which is the first major habitat zone in the zoo and widely regarded as a bottleneck. A new indoor “herpetarium” would showcase reptiles and amphibians. A new outdoor “penguinarium” would replace the current 65-year-old habitat. The Oregon Zoo has maintained accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums since 1974, but the current penguin habitat has been identified as a risk for losing accreditation, Rahn said.

“The Oregon Zoo doesn’t just keep pace,” Dan Ashe, president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said at the Feb. 1 meeting. “It’s a leader in helping set the pace for ever-rising standards, thanks in large part to your community’s ongoing support.”