Equestrian Center Deal Endorsed : Hansen Dam: Commissioners recommend award of 30-year franchise to former jockey Eddie Milligan. They also approve housing at the site for his family.

A Los Angeles city commission recommended Monday that former jockey Eddie Milligan be awarded a 30-year franchise to run the equestrian center at Hansen Dam despite continuing friction between Milligan and the Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the land.

“Everything’s wonderful,” Milligan said after the Recreation and Parks Commission voted 3 to 0 to approve the franchise late Monday.

The franchise agreement, which has been in negotiation for more than two years, still must be reviewed by the mayor and approved by the Corps of Engineers and the Los Angeles City Council.

Milligan has been operating the equestrian center in Lake View Terrace on a month-to-month basis since 1989 while awaiting a final decision on his bid for the 30-year agreement. Armed with the commission’s approval, Milligan said he will next seek permits to build a tack room, restaurant and cocktail lounge on the property. The facility already has 16 equestrian arenas--including three the Corps maintains were erected without proper permits--and stalls for 150 horses.

“I’m prepared to invest another $1 million,” Milligan said.

As part of the franchise package, the Corps agreed to let Milligan, his wife and daughter live in two mobile homes in Hansen Dam park, despite Corps rules that forbid human habitation in flood plains.

Milligan’s continued residence in the area provoked a running battle with Corps administrators, but Recreation and Parks Department General Manager Jackie Tatum asked the Corps to grant Milligan a waiver to live on the site, saying it made sense to have round-the-clock management.

Under the agreement approved Monday, Milligan has agreed to secure the mobile homes so they would not float away during a flood, to pay rent for the land occupied by the mobile homes, to allow no more than four persons to live on the site, and to provide a plan for evacuating the inhabitants in the event of flooding.

Despite Monday’s accord on the mobile home issue, the feisty Milligan continues to nettle the city’s bureaucracy and is currently under orders to dismantle three equestrian arenas he built without first receiving construction approval from the city or the Corps of Engineers.

Milligan said Monday that it was unreasonable for him to have to remove the three arenas--which the Corps has said will be required before the Army approves the franchise agreement. At the hearing Monday, the commission said it will let Milligan and the Corps settle that dispute between themselves.

Milligan also has squabbled with local horse owners who have accused him of “acting like a little Caesar” and operating the equestrian center for the benefit of a “moneyed few” and not for average horse owners. Milligan in turn sued the horse owners for libel. The lawsuit is pending.

Under the 30-year pact, Milligan is obligated to pay the city 4% of his gross receipts on boarding and training fees and 2% on his gross receipts from other sales.

In the interim, Milligan, formerly an executive at the Griffith Park equestrian center, says he has invested $2.2 million in the Hansen Dam facility and has regularly paid $1,200 to $1,500 each month in franchise fees. Milligan said he lost $300,000 operating the facility last year.