HUNTINGTON BEACH : Equestrian Center Fixes Violations

Ending more than three months of pressure and threats by the Planning Commission, the owner of the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center has corrected several city health and safety violations, city officials reported.

Planning commissioners this week unanimously agreed that owner Mary Harris has complied with the requirements of a city staff review begun in December.

Planners reported that Harris has corrected grading and drainage problems, inadequate lighting and other code violations, such as using trailers for housing workers.

Commissioners have scheduled a follow-up review in July related to final inspection of a new lighting system and will evaluate whether the center needs more restroom fixtures.

Harris has argued that the facility needs no more than one toilet each for the men’s and women’s restrooms. But the city’s planning staff has recommended six toilets for women and two for men. Officials said they will reconsider their recommendation in the summer, the center’s peak season.

At the July review, officials will also update the status of delayed site improvements, for which Harris has posted bonds guaranteeing completion. One such improvement involves linking the center’s drainage system to the city’s main sewer, which cannot take place until a nearby storm drain project is completed.

During a public hearing at Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting, a nationally respected equestrian expert and other speakers lauded the Huntington Beach facility for its relatively high standards.

“The applicant seems to have gotten her act together” and shown “good faith,” Commission Chairman Kirk Kirkland said Friday.

In January, planners were angered that many health and safety problems remained, despite their repeated demands for corrections.

Kirkland and other commissioners had threatened to ask the City Council to revoke the center’s conditional use permit unless improvements were made by March.

Responding to complaints from horse owners of unsanitary and substandard conditions, the commission ordered the original review of the center, which boards 400 horses, as a condition of approving a permit for 80 pipe stalls added last year.