The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is going to start talks with its neighbors about potentially reopening a long-defunct west entrance.
Right now, the zoo only has one entrance — the main one along East 23rd Avenue, near its primary parking lot and the gift shop.
The zoo once had a western entrance, near City Park’s tennis courts, but it has been closed for over a decade.
Now the zoo is hoping to launch a one-year pilot program to test out the old entrance. A timeline hasn’t been set for the pilot program’s launch, but the zoo will start by engaging with nearby neighbors to gauge potential concerns.
Zoo spokesperson Jake Kubié said they’ll present their plans to registered neighborhood organization City Park Friends and Neighbors at the Carla Madison Recreation Center on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 5:30 p.m.
An additional entrance was identified in City Park’s 2018 master plan.
The City Park Master Plan, which will guide any future growth at Denver’s largest public park, made suggestions for how the zoo could be more accessible to pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders.
The plan recommended opening a secondary entrance “possibly near Elephant House or near the tennis courts.”
Visitors at City Park may be familiar with the zoo’s east entrance. The entrance, officially labeled Gate 19, is visible along the road between the tennis courts and Duck Lake, the natural bird refuge on the south edge of the zoo.
