Two groups sued the city of Los Angeles on Wednesday over the planned renovation of the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park.

Friends of Griffith Park and the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust have filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles

district

The Supreme Court claims the city failed to adequately consider the environmental impacts of the zoo’s proposed makeover.

Ivor Pine, a spokesman for City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto declined to comment.

The Los Angeles City Council last month backed a major renovation of the zoo, which city leaders want to upgrade ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Their plan calls for expanded conservation efforts and more space for animals.

Zoo officials also envision a new visitors center and a condor exhibit, both of which are criticized by Hill neighborhoods and environmental groups as damaging to the habitat.

This is stated in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday

claims

that the zoo’s renovation would include the removal of 16 acres of native California chaparral from Griffith Park. The lawsuit also claims that the zoo’s emphasis on adding an “entertainment venue and event center” would bring more light and noise to the area.

Those changes will have negative impacts on bat species, according to the lawsuit. Additionally, a potential condor-themed canyon would require construction and “introduce new barriers to the movement of wildlife,” the lawsuit said.

The Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust is named after the man who left the land now known as Griffith Park to the city. The trust helped support the construction of the Greek Theater and the Griffith Observatory.

The trust’s mission is to keep the park free and open to the public, trustee Clare Darden said.

“It’s a parkland, not land that needs to be developed any more than it is,” Darden said. “That’s what makes Griffith Park so unique.”

Officials have made it clear that details of the zoo’s makeover have not yet been finalized. Officials could use a “tunnel” to create a condor exhibit, instead of cutting into the hills and creating a gorge as originally planned.

The lack of details is another reason Friends of Griffith Park wants a renewal.

“It is completely inappropriate to approve this [environmental impact review] when you don’t know what you’re going to build,” said Marian Dodge, former president of Friends of Griffith Park and a member of the group’s subcommittee on the zoo plan.