GRANADA HILLS : Board Adjusts Permit for Horse Facility

The Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday granted a horse boarding and training business in Granada Hills the right to keep up to 70 horses and modified several other conditions on a 10-year operating permit.

The boarding and training facility, called Whispering Winds Ranch, is on 7.2 acres near Zelzah Avenue and Ridgeway Road.

The operator of the ranch, Ronald Lowe, appealed more than a dozen conditions imposed under a new operating permit by the city’s zoning administrator. The ranch’s previous 10-year operating permit expired last year.

The board agreed with Lowe on several conditions, including increasing the maximum number of horses from 50 to 70, and modifying the manure removal schedule, operating hours and street dedication requirements, said Ed Barr, a city planner.

Lowe’s appeal was supported by several neighbors who said the ranch is well-run and would not be financially successful under the conditions proposed by the zoning administrator.