Baby kangaroo makes appearance at Burnsville Planning Commission meeting
BURNSVILLE, Minn. -- If you're trying to convince a city commission to grant your petting zoo an indoor space, there are worse persuasive tactics than bringing a baby kangaroo the public hearing.
That's exactly what Sustainable Safari did on Monday night. The company applied in April to open a location within the Burnsville Center, and they brought one of their animals, a baby kangaroo named K.J., to the Planning Commission's review.
The space is currently not zoned for use as a zoo, so Sustainable Safari applied for a planned unit development amendment to allow such a use.
At the meeting, Sustainable Safari owner Bob Pilz said he hopes the petting zoo would "really become a draw for the Burnsville Center and help it come back to life." Pilz pitched the business to the Planning Commission, running through the business's licensure, insurance, future plans and more.
"We're working towards a very significant impact on conservation through our company," Pilz said.
The petting zoo would be located in the mall's former Old Navy space and comprise about 17,000 square feet, according to the city.
Sustainable Safari has operated inside Maplewood Mall since 2019. The Burnsville location would be their second. The space would include a petting zoo, party room and educational center.
One city councilmember asked how Sustainable Safari would manage the scent from an indoor petting zoo.
"Our ventilation system is pretty crazy at Maplewood," Pilz said. "No air actually goes back out the front door at Maplewood ... The air is all sucked from the common areas, through our doors right out the roof in the back of the mall. And that's cycled every six minutes ... So that really hopes control the air and the smell."
Pilz said the ventilation system at Burnsville would be just as impressive, if not more so.
"The ventilation we have specced out for Burnsville, it's going to be a dream in there," he said. "It's going to be its own climate."
The Planning Commission unanimously passed the motion to recommend the planned unit development amendment to the full city council. The council will take it up at a meeting on July 18.
"You'd be a great draw to our mall," Planning Commission member Chris John said. "We need something to pull people in and this is one of those things that the big box stores online can't replicate, so this is a great asset to our mall."