Equestrians Lose Zoning Change Fight : Sylmar: Horse owners fail to stop planning commission approval of commercial development that they say will harm their lifestyle.

Members of Sylmar’s equestrian community suffered a setback this week after Los Angeles city planning officials approved a zoning change to permit commercial development on a six-acre swath of land on Roxford Street.

“We are definitely disappointed, but we’re going to appeal,” said Barbara Inkman, 61, who lives nearby and keeps two horses in a back-yard corral. Inkman and other residents collected the signatures of more than 500 people opposed to the rezoning, which they claim will diminish the rugged lifestyle treasured by horse keepers in the area.

The change was requested by a group of six property owners who contend the neighborhood already has become too commercial for them to successfully market their residential properties. After a public hearing Thursday, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted to approve their request, clearing the way for the land to be sold for commercial development.

“There is already a Motel 6, a Denny’s restaurant and two gas stations located across the street from where some of my clients live,” said Ben Reznik, a lawyer representing the applicants. “All this nearby commercial development has come in over the last few years, and nobody wants to buy their homes,” he added, noting that the property is near the noisy Golden State Freeway.

But those opposed to the change said that homes in Larkspur--an upscale, gated housing community near the freeway and adjacent to the six-acre area to be rezoned--sold within two years of going on the market.

City Councilman Richard Alarcon owns a house in Larkspur, but cannot become involved in the zoning dispute because he lives too close to the area in question and must avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Inkman said she has the legal grounds to appeal the zoning decision, in part because it was made by only three planning commissioners, the minimum required for a quorum. Two commissioners were absent from the hearing, Inkman said.

She added that commissioners had discussed postponing the ruling. But they changed their minds after Reznik informed them that the hearing was their final opportunity to vote on the request because city regulations place a one-year time limit on rezoning decisions.

The rule says that commissioners must vote on zoning applications within a year of the filing of the final environmental impact report.

“That expiration date is today,” Inkman said Friday. “It appeared the commissioners were under heavy pressure to take the vote.”

City planning officials did not return several phone messages Friday.