Horse Stables’ Move Is Saddled With Problems : Thousand Oaks: A joint meeting between parks officials and the City Council points up the complexity of a relocation to Broome Ranch.

After hearing from horse lovers and developers Monday, officials at a joint session of the Thousand Oaks City Council and Conejo Recreation and Park District found it easy to agree on at least one issue.

They all want to keep the Two Winds equestrian center from being permanently displaced by the Dos Vientos development in Newbury Park. Conceptually at least, publicly owned Broome Ranch is an ideal place to move the horses and stables, they said.

But even after three hours of discussion Monday, how to manage the relocation remained unclear. Council members and park district officials agreed to meet again for a second joint session at an undetermined date.

Before that happens, however, members of the two agencies will meet on the committee level, and with representatives of the Conejo Open Space Conservation Authority.

The bureaucracy seemed to frustrate equestrian Jeff Alexander, who owns a feed store on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Wearing a “Broome Now” button on his shirt, he asked the officials to allow Two Winds to move onto Broome Ranch immediately.

“We could move to Broome Ranch today,” Alexander said. “If you want to use it, you can do it.”

But COSCA Chairwoman Rorie Skei said the situation is not that simple.

“I know Jeff Alexander is saying, ‘Cut the red tape,’ ” Skei said. “But it’s not that easy.”

Ownership of Broome Ranch is currently held by the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority, although eventually the deed will be transferred to COSCA. In the meantime, even though the city and the park district together paid $2.9 million toward the purchase of the sprawling open space, neither has the authority to decide what to do with it.

Additionally, Broome Ranch is not zoned for use as an equestrian center, and an extensive environmental study of the impacts of operating a stable on the land would have to be completed before a zoning change could take place.

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About 150 horses are boarded at Two Winds, a privately owned stable and riding facility located on 60 acres of leased property on the Dos Vientos development. Operating Engineers, the builders planning to construct a 220-house tract on the property, recently told stable managers that they will have to move on April 1.

As part of its development deal with the city, Operating Engineers agreed to set aside a 7.3-acre parcel for an equestrian center within the development. But since the 1988 agreement, all involved, including the developers, have determined the parcel is not nearly big enough for the Two Winds operation. Operating Engineers has applied to the city to change that plan and instead build four houses on that site.

Wayne Jett, the attorney for Operating Engineers, said the company has found a temporary 40-acre site for Two Winds elsewhere on the Dos Vientos property, northwest of the 7.3-acre site. But he urged city officials to use Broome Ranch as a permanent facility.

Jett said Operating Engineers would be willing to help relocate the stables to Broome Ranch, but that the company would stop short of financing the move, despite the belief by some officials that Operating Engineers had agreed to grade the site and provide water and utilities for Two Winds.

“If there was an impression that we agreed to it, that was inaccurate,” Jett said.

Instead, he proposed that the city should use part of the $2.3 million it has already received in developer’s fees from Operating Engineers to build a Broome Ranch equestrian center.

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City Manager Grant Brimhall balked at that idea. “You want to spend our money for us?” retorted City Manager Grant Brimhall.

And Skei was equally skeptical.

“I’m a little concerned that the developer is pushing so hard for Broome Ranch,” she said. “It’s very interesting that Operating Engineers are being so solicitous of the horse community. After all, relocating Two Winds there would also solve their problems.”