Royal Oak Neighbors Want to Be Heard on Zoo Noise Issue

Pende, a gorilla living at the Detroit Zoo, isn’t behind a spate of complaints about noise. (Photo via Facebook)

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Neighbors living near the Detroit Zoo say they’re tired of the noise

It’s not from the gorillas and chimpanzees or the lions and tigers.

It’s from Homo sapiens. More than 1.36 million of them walked through the front gates of the 125-acre Detroit Zoo in 2014, and about two dozen neighbors in the Royal Oak and Huntington Woods area say it’s time zoo officials listened to them, The Daily Tribune reports.

The neighbors’ complaints deal with everything from nighttime music events, to fun runs and walks, to announcements made over the public address system, to simulated prehistoric growls in the summerlong Dinosauria exhibits.

A town hall meeting to hear concerns is planned for 6-7 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery on the zoo campus.

The complaints aren’t new, and Gerry VanAcker, the zoo’s chief operating officer, said they haven’t fallen on deaf ears.

We’ve been working on this quite a bit for the past seven years,” VanAcker said, noting that zoo safety officers carry decibel meters and take readings to ensure noise doesn’t exceed acceptable levels.

“It isn’t anything new. …” he said. “It is mostly the evening activities where we have to be especially vigilant.”

Huntington Woods resident Aaron Retish collected 26 signatures in a petition drive that led to next month’s meeting. He and other tiring of the noise told the Huntington Woods City Commission last week that it’s time for the city to hold the zoo accountable. It has been exempt from the city’s noise ordinance since mid-2014.

Retish wants the zoo to jettison amplified events, something he says zoos in Denver, Nashville and elsewhere have done to be good neighbors.

“It’s OK to tell the zoo not to have amplified events,” Retish said. “They are going to be just fine.”

“I didn’t move here to live next to Disney World,” said Ken Zino, 63, an auto writer who lives next to the zoo in Huntington Woods.

Julie Arends of Royal Oak told The Daily Tribune she called police at 1 o’clock in the morning during last fall’s Zoo Boo because she “couldn’t go to sleep to the ‘Monster Mash’ and ghoul noises.”

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The zoo straddles Huntington Woods and Royal Oak, where about one-fifth of the property is located. Most of those complaining about the noise reside on the Huntington Woods side.

But not everyone is upset about the noise.

“We’re happy that we have” the zoo, said Jeff King of Huntington Woods. “There’s a lot of us ... who love what they are doing. Don’t judge everything by some strong voices.”

The zoo is considering improvements, including a berm and hedges, and has followed the recommendations of a sound consultant hired in 2010 by changing the direction of speakers, moving stage platforms and eliminating rumbling bass notes in the Dinosauria soundtrack, VanAcker said.

Huntington Woods City Commissioner Mary White said the zoo is a valuable asset that has improved over the years.

“I have to tell you, I moved in here when they had monkeys on bicycles and the zoo was a disgrace,” White said at last week’s meeting. “They’ve really improved.”