The Seneca Park Zoo project’s design expenses are under financial examination

Rochester, New York – The Seneca Park Zoo’s partial renovation, which includes a 22,000-square-foot main entry plaza and a 48,000-square-foot Tropics building, is being scrutinized financially as concerns are raised regarding the project’s transparency.

The environmental services director for Monroe County, Michael Garland, called the facility “straightforward to construct” and “very architecturally appealing.”

However, the project, which started in 2015, ran into trouble with the cost of building.

$6.7 million was spent on a design that was ultimately determined to be too extravagant to construct, according to Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart.

“Of that $6.7 million, we were only able to recover less than $1 million,” Barnhart stated. “So essentially, we lost $6 million.”

Garland clarified that in order to safeguard taxpayer interests and improve the zoo experience, the county chose to employ a new design firm instead of asking the Legislature for tens of millions of dollars when construction bids surpassed the budget.

Only roughly $800,000 of the $6.7 million that was paid to Clark Patterson Lee was retrieved.
According to Barnhart, the initial design contract, which was signed in 2015 under Maggie Brooks, the county executive at the time, cost about $260,000.

Millions more were spent over time as a result of changes made to the original contract because of a provision that permitted the county executive to approve further funding without the consent of the legislature.

“There ought to be a point at which the county executive must return to the legislature and inform them that they need to increase the amount of money included in this contract. Would you mind approving this? Barnhart spoken.

Monroe County communications director Steve Barz defended the procedure.

“If we had to go back to the Legislature for every change order, every time we had a change order with one of these projects, that would come to a grinding halt,” Barz stated. “The public is not treated fairly by that. To the people who are working on these initiatives, that is unfair. The consultants are not treated fairly.

But during Tuesday’s next session, Barnhart said she will support a contract authorization to CambridgeSeven, the project’s new design firm. She stated that if the county executive wanted to make changes that cost more than a specific amount, she would suggest an amendment that would require legislative approval.

It is anticipated that the project will be finished in 2028.