Children's Zoo Opening Pushed Back

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma City Zoo project, funded by local taxpayers, is behind the original schedule and over budget. The Children's Zoo is going to cost one million dollars more than first thought.

The Children's Zoo was expected to open this year, but now it won't open until March of 2010, because zoo officials said they underestimated the complexity of the project.

Two and one half acres will transform into a zoo within a zoo. The unique project was originally estimated at $7 million and zoo officials wanted it done by this fall. The ambitious project was shot down by contractors.

"When we got the bids back from the contractors, we determined that the timeline was too tight to get it done by the fall of ‘09," said Brian Aucone, the Assistant Zoo Director.

And it would cost an extra one million dollars due to the nature of the project. The Children's Zoo will include a forest, underground exhibits, waterfalls and a petting zoo.

"So it's hard to estimate and you also have the cost of concrete and steel that fluctuat, so all of that came into play with the bids being higher than what we expected," Aucone said.

The Oklahoma City Public Works Department is now involved to keep the project on schedule.

"The zoo is good at animal conservation, things along those lines, but when it comes to overseeing a multimillion dollar construction project, they felt they needed a little bit of help with that," said MT Berry, the Assistant City Manager.

The assistant city manager said it's not unusual for public works to manage taxpayer funded projects.
With the city's help, zoo officials said they can focus on their area of expertise.

"We want kids to come in and explore we want them to play," Aucone said.

The $1 million needed to complete the Children's Zoo is coming from Oklahoma Zoological Society, which originally committed $2 million to the project.

Zoo officials have gone through this before. The Oklahoma Trails were opened two years behind schedule. The assistant zoo director said it was due to an increase in materials costs.