Council OKs Conversion of Stable

The Rolling Hills Estates City Council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday night to uphold a Planning Commission decision to permit the owner of a house in Colina Ranch Estates to replace his stable with a three-car garage, much to the unbridled consternation of neighbors.

The neighbors had argued that it is poor policy for a city established as an equestrian community to permit stables to be replaced by garages.

In September, the owner asked the commission for permission to convert his 300-square-foot barn to a 500-square-foot, three-car garage. The property, the only house sold in a new seven-lot development off Hawthorne Boulevard, would then have garage space for six cars.

As required by a city’s zoning code, all properties in Colina Ranch Estates must maintain enough usable corral area--a minimum of 800 square feet--for the keeping of one horse. After the conversion, about 960 square feet would remain, according to a commission staff report.

In a letter to the council, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Horsemen’s Assn. said it considers the variance request “an omen of things to come,” and recommended that the council reject the request because it does not “remain true to the intent of the Equestrian Zone.”

Carol Dean Porter of 42 Hidden Valley Drive said she objects to any changes to the property because they “will encourage anybody to come in and make more changes.”

In voting to support the commission’s decision, Mayor Warren Schwarzman said: “For better or worse, (in spite of the conversion, the property meets) all our requirements. It’s the property right that an owner has to put up a garage if he wants.”