More Capistrano Horses? The Neighbors Say Neigh

Call it the travails of the Sycamore Trails.

Tucked away at the end of Oso Road in the rolling hills of San Juan Capistrano are the Sycamore Trails Stables, a 15-acre equestrian center that serves as home for more than 250 horses.

For several years, the neighboring Capistrano Villas condominiums coexisted peacefully in the pastoral setting with smaller stables on the property. But in 1978, when Sycamore Trails owner Ronald B. Hanson bought the land and gradually expanded the old boarding and training facilities, trouble began.

Several Capistrano Villas residents, whose homes face the stables along Avenida de la Vista, noticed an increase in noise, dust and traffic. They complained that the show ring lights were too bright, the speakers were too loud and the dust was too much.

Although an uneasy truce has existed between the Sycamore stables and the Capistrano Villas Homeowners Assn. No. 1 for the last seven years, when Hanson recently requested permission to add 5.4 acres and 160 horses, the homeowners protested. At a meeting last week, the San Juan Capistrano Planning Commission granted the homeowners a continuance to prepare their position on the issue. The commission also ordered an environmental impact report on the proposed expansion, which could take three months.

Meanwhile, back at the Sycamore stables, Hanson waits. He is considering appealing the environmental report, because the city Environmental Review Board had approved the project.

“I haven’t decided yet if I will ask for an appeal or will just go ahead and satisfy the request for an EIR,” Hanson said. “But we will progress from here.”

Not if some homeowners have their way. In a letter to the Planning Commission, homeowners said they didn’t oppose the existence of the stables, but they said they objected to what they called Hanson’s lack of compliance with current permits.

“In 1978, he got a conditional permit to operate his stables,” said Pauline Alexander, 78, a Capistrano Villas Homeowners Assn. No. 1 board member. “But he has not lived up to it. He was given specific stipulations to follow and he has not. The lights are suppose to be off at 10 p.m., but they are often on till past 11:30 p.m. and the lights shine right in our windows. The hills form a perfect amphitheater and you can hear the calls on the loud speaker over on the next block, they’re so loud. There are no plants for screening the dust out. I haven’t enjoyed a breezy day here since 1978 because of all the dust.”

Although Alexander and more than 30 other residents signed a letter detailing these and similar complaints, other Capistrano Villas residents said the stables do not bother them and they are not opposed to its expansion.

“I like the horses and I have no complaints,” Janice Beasley, 30, said. “I live right across the street from the stables on Avenida de la Vista and I don’t hear the speakers or see any dust and I rarely smell anything. . . . The lights don’t bother me. In fact, I think they give the parkway a little needed light at night.”

Sycamore stables is not the only equestrian operation along Avenida de la Vista. To the south of Hanson’s property are several smaller stables, including Rancho Sierra Vista, that are closer to the Capistrano Villas than Sycamore. Unlike Sycamore, these stables have little or no foliage or shrubbery to prevent blowing dust and sand.

But Rusty Hanson, 18, said his father doesn’t want to start finger-pointing.

“We are trying to handle this quietly,” the younger Hanson said. “My father is taking the defensive not the offensive on this. He doesn’t want to upset anyone.”