Local News in Brief : Horse ‘Condos’ Rejected

A City Council committee has turned hoofs down on plans by the financially troubled Los Angeles Equestrian Center to convert rented stalls into horse “condominiums” and open a medieval-theme restaurant where diners could watch jousting matches.

The Los Angeles Board of Referred Powers said it wanted instead to meet with operators of the Griffith Park center, its creditors and city officials to consider alternative ways to bail out the 70-acre, city-owned facility, which is about $27 million in debt.

The stall conversion and restaurant proposals, part of a plan for bankruptcy reorganization, were sharply criticized by horse boarders and users of the center.

“I am not prepared to support this plan at this time,” said the board’s chairman, Councilman Hal Bernson. Despite his sympathy for center officials and creditors, Bernson said, “My No. 1 responsibility is to protect those stalls for public use.”

Boarders feared that they would be forced from the center or that their horses would be confined to less-desirable locations if they refused to buy the stalls for $30,000 apiece.