If it's Utah's Hogle Zoo, why should Salt Lake County pay for a $65 million bond to revamp it?

That was one of the questions Salt Lake County Council members asked zoo officials Tuesday, wondering whether they should put the bond on their November ballot when a high percentage of zoo attendance comes from outside the county.

The Salt Lake City zoo needs $85 million as part of its "Renew the Zoo" campaign and hopes $65 million of that can come, over an eight-year period, through a county bond. The other $20 million would come from private donors.

County Council members agreed the zoo is a great place for public funding, some going as far as saying they'd approve putting it on the ballot. Others were skeptical.

"You're asking for as much as all our ZAP (Zoo, Arts and Parks Tax) projects together as one," council chair Mark Crockett said. "We've just been spending so much money lately that we don't know how that's going to shake out."

Zoo officials showed their updated master plan to the council Tuesday. It featured an aquarium complex, an African Savanna, a gorilla forest expansion, a large polar bear exhibit, a renovated penguin enclosure and an "enhanced" south entrance with 400 more parking spots.

"We really want to make Hogle Zoo a great zoo," said zoo director Craig Dinsmore. "We believe we can easily accommodate up to a million visitors through this plan."

In 2003, Salt Lake City voters approved the first phase of the master plan. A $10.2 million bond paid for a new entry plaza as well as the Elephant Encounters and Asian Highlands exhibits.

The council presented a list of topics for the zoo to present in the bond review process, including whether or not the zoo could eventually reach capacity at its current site. The zoo sits on more than 40 acres of property at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, but because of the terrain, only about 30 acres are usable.

Expanding onto This Is the Place Heritage Park (an idea the zoo scratched last year because it wasn't feasible) or even onto Rotary Glen Park were both brought up.

But Councilman David Wilde, a former zoo board member, wondered why the whole county should pay for the bond when the zoo's board is made up of upper-class, east-side residents. He referred to it as the "east bench's Hogle Zoo" because of the board make-up.

"I think it's wrong for the zoo to come to Salt Lake County residents, from Magna to the west and Riverton to South Jordan, and say, 'We want your money, but we don't want you to have a place at our table,'" he said, adding more "naysayers" need to be on the board, too.

Added Michael Jensen, who represents most of the west side: "It's a really tough sell for me on the west side."

But councilmen Jim Bradley and Joe Hatch noted that those demographics are the case for the majority of boards. Hatch was particularly heated over the "attack."

"To deny the bond over some bizarre interpretation of corporate law, shame on you," said Hatch, also a former zoo board member.

Meanwhile, the zoo is planning a media briefing next Wednesday to give an overview of the master plan.

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