The zoo, located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, received a thumbs-up from the county's Debt Review Committee last week to pursue the largest renovation in Hogle history - a project that calls for, among other upgrades, a gorilla forest, an African savanna with a pride of lions and an expansive polar-bear habitat.

That panel's recommendation was presented Tuesday to the County Council.

"The project appears viable," reported committee chairman Larry Richardson, the county's treasurer. Council members scrutinized the debt committee's analysis Tuesday, but delayed a policy discussion and vote until Aug. 7. The stakes are high for Hogle Zoo, which must win the council's approval to seek a public bond in November.

If voters then sign on, their property taxes will jump by about $17 a year on a $300,000 home.

The zoo's expansion will cost an estimated $85 million. Hogle officials plan to raise $20 million through private donations and rely on voters for the rest.

With the money, the zoo plans to break away from the concrete exhibits of the past and introduce more spacious, lifelike habitats.

- Jeremiah Stettler