The San Diego Zoo is probably our most prominent local attraction. It recorded nearly 4 million visits last year. The city estimates zoo guests spent more than $570 million in the region.
Now the city and zoo want those guests to spend a bit more. For many years, they have been able to park their cars for free. That’s going to change.
To understand what’s going on, you have to go back to 1979.
The Zoological Society of San Diego has operated the zoo for 109 years. It actually rents land from the city — its space in Balboa Park is city property. The city and the zoo signed the current lease in 1979.
The lease allows the zoo to charge for parking. But it has a big rule: they can’t charge different amounts if someone is a zoo member, buys a ticket, or is a San Diego resident. They either charge one price or they don’t charge.
Adam Day, a board member from the zoo, said at Monday's City Council meeting the zoo has always had the ability to charge for parking.
"But we’ve never chosen to charge for parking," he said. "Today’s action will allow us to charge city residents less than non-city residents."
They want this change because the city will soon begin charging for parking in Balboa Park. It would be super awkward if the zoo’s parking lot remained free.
So that’s what happened this week. The San Diego City Council simply agreed to allow the zoo to come up with a plan to offer different parking rates to different people.
In exchange, city officials and zoo leaders have agreed to share some of that money with the city. The City Council passed its budget assuming $3 million would come from parking at the zoo and more than $15 million would come from Balboa Park.
So they are motivated to move quickly. They won’t hit their goals if they don’t start by Oct. 1.
They’re also charging higher parking fees around the city and it’s caused a lot of blowback. At Monday's meeting, Councilmember Vivian Moreno said a one-day zoo pass would cost a family of four more than $250.
"Adding an additional amount to pay for parking is going to make it that much harder," she said. "Although this amendment does not specifically set a fee that residents will have to pay, it is essentially the first step forward in allowing this to happen."
Now the only question is how much they charge, how much less they charge residents and how much money they’ll share with the city.
