Huntington Beach Equestrians Want Temporary Stables Built

An angry band of Huntington Beach equestrians delivered petitions containing 998 signatures to the City Council this week demanding that temporary stables be erected on an undeveloped plot of city land.

The council members did not vote on the request, which at least four members have previously opposed.

Community Services Director Max Bowman had recommended in a report to the council that the 135 or so horses now boarded in stables that would be displaced by development in the city be moved to the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, where at least 200 horses already are boarded. Bowman stated that operators of the Equestrian Center were willing to accommodate the displaced horses, plus several dozen more now on a waiting list, in return for a 15-year extension of their lease so they could spread new stable construction costs over a longer period of time.

But Denny Gosser, a Fountain Valley resident who presented the petitions, rejected that idea.

Concerned Boarders, a loosely organized group of horse owners, has complained to City Hall for months about management of the 25-acre Equestrian Center, accusing one operator, Eddie Milligan, of refusing public access to others, raising rents without council approval as required in the lease, and showing favoritism to owners of show horses. Milligan has denied the allegations.

“We have repeatedly expressed our concerns” about the Equestrian Center, Gosser told the council. “Now the City Council wants to extend its contract.”

The city bought the undeveloped site in December for $3 million to protect it from development and eventually use it to expand the existing Central Park. The Equestrian Center operators have a lease that gives them exclusive rights to horse facilities in the park.

The council voted to form a committee of three council members--Ruth Finley, Tom Mays and Grace Winchell--to meet with equestrians and submit a report to the city administrator by July 31.