Neighbors upset as work begins to expand Grand Rapids zoo parking

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the status of the 2025 master plan. The Kent County Commission Board previously tabled an amendment to the 2015 plan. A previously posted video that included that error has been removed. We regret the error.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Site clearing started this week on the southwest side of the John Ball Zoo’s green space to expand parking options during peak season.

The zoo must get approval from the Kent County Commission Board for its master plan every 10 years. The 2025 master plan proposal will be presented to commissioners this fall.

A group of West Siders is closely watching what happens. They are continuing their push to save the green space.

“It’s horrible and, in our perspective, it’s unnecessary,” said Tina Femeyer, who is part of the group Neighbors of John Ball Park. “The zoo is only open part of the year and they only use overflow parking a couple of days a week during the busy days.”

A spokesperson for John Ball Zoo said that conversations late last year between the county and zoo neighbors led to the current parking plan. That plan, the zoo spokesperson wrote, includes fewer paved parking spaces and the continued use of the overflow parking area.

CEO Peter D’Arienzo told county commissioners last month during a work session that the zoo is on track to record 800,000 visitors this year.

“We actually turned away thousands, not because of the space within the zoo… (but) because of limitations around parking,” he said.

The new objections aren’t necessarily focused on the construction now underway, but rather a difference in messaging from the CEO when it comes to preserving the east lot green space.

“We’ve been in continued conversations with the zoo and the county as the zoo pushed its master plan amendment through… and part of that conversation was that if we expand into parking in the backfield here, that the park and the neighborhood would benefit by saving some of the green space closer to Valley Street,” Femeyer said. “That promise is no longer being kept and they still continue to plan for overflow parking in the northeast lot along Valley Street.”

At the Aug. 8 Kent County Board of Commissioners work session, commission Chair Stan Stek reminded board members the area immediately outside the zoo isn’t a community park.

“It’s a zoo that’s being made available to the community for purposes of public use. The deed says (that) if you ever stop using it for purposes of a zoo, then you may be in violation of the terms of the deed and the property reverts back to the city,” he said.

Stek’s comment was in response to commission questions about what they’ve seen in John Ball Zoo’s 2025 master plan. New renderings presented last month revealed the east lot overflow parking space would remain for overflow space.

“I was really under the impression when we supported this back in January is that land, overflow parking area, was going to be protected for a park,” Commissioner Tony Baker said.

“It just does seem a little bit different than what we had heard in January,” Commissioner Katie DeBoer added.

Stek referred back to his understanding of the deed:

“If politically we said we decided to turn this into a community park, we would be in violation of the deed,” he said.

“We’ve been consistent in our messaging that that area, instead of developing it, it would be a flat empty space. But it would be used for overflow,” D’Arienzo said at the time .

“It’s just a classic bait and switch,” Cindy DeBoer, a West Side resident, said. “We’re committed to keeping that green space. We understand that a park is not a park if cars can park there. And now they’re saying, ‘No we’re going to pave over these 10 acres and we’re going to keep that green space as a parking lot.’”

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