Poway Neighbors Raise Stink at Animal Pens

When they moved to Poway, drawn by its striking views and rural atmosphere, residents of the pricey Bridlewood suburb near Lake Poway didn’t realize the city meant what it said in its municipal motto: City in the Country.

But they soon found out.

The city and the Poway Unified School District have just completed two open-air pens to house cattle, pigs, sheep and other large animals being raised by Future Farmers of America members at nearby Poway High School on a neighboring hillside.

A dozen homeowners in the exclusive estate subdivision rose in protest of the project when it came before the Poway City Council for approval last fall, decrying the advent of smells, flies, noise and dust from the pens and their four-footed occupants.

Despite its horsy name and its entry insignia of a galloping horse, the upscale Bridlewood suburb does not cater to horse owners, nor even allow large animals within its borders.

After the council approved the $181,000 pens within 350 feet of the Bridlewood boundaries by a resounding 5-0 vote, a handful of residents vowed to hire a lawyer and sue. But the lawsuit was put on hold until after the animal farm was a reality and its effect could be evaluated.

One Bridlewood neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Wednesday that the Bridlewood protesters still stand ready to wage a legal fight if the FFA facility produces appreciable odor, dust or noise in their estate community.

“After all,” the Bridlewood homeowner said, “we bought here to be near the lake, not near an animal farm. And the (rules) here in Bridlewood don’t allow us to have anything larger than a house pet.”

At dedication ceremonies Wednesday at the hillside FFA barns, Poway Councilman Bob Emery explained the city’s stance as evidence of Poway’s commitment to keeping up with its municipal motto, but admitted that he “never thought we were going to get here,” during the three years of “ups and downs” that preceded the ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

The Bridlewood homeowners were not the only residents who had protested putting the animal stalls near their properties, nor the first to threaten legal action if the city used a section of its Lake Poway Park property to aid the Poway High School FFA. The hillside site chosen was considered to be the least intrusive on the surrounding residential developments.

Also, the site within the city-owned park does not carry restrictions against large animals that the surrounding private properties do.

About 100 teen-agers at the nearby high school take agriculture classes and are members of FFA. About 25 of them are raising animals for entry at the Del Mar Fair next June, and the pens will holding the larger animals until then.

Dan Stauf, faculty adviser to the FFA, said that the Poway members’ animals have been farmed out to El Capitan High School during the past three years after Poway High replaced the campus FFA barns with portable classrooms. During that period, Poway’s entries in the county fair and other regional fairs dropped off drastically as the teen-agers found it difficult to commute to care for their animals at distant El Capitan quarters in Lakeside.

Linda Harkleroad, the force behind the FFA movement and the animal facility, was hospitalized with a leg infection and unable to attend the ceremonies. But city officials delivered a box of animal crackers to her bedside and promised to save a slice of the dedication cake.

FFA members will be moving their animals into the new pens next week, Stauf said, because El Capitan has requested that the Poway animals be moved as soon as possible.