Agency OKs Temporary Move of Stables : Thousand Oaks: Group approves shifting equestrian center to Broome Ranch for at least a year until permanent site is developed.

Ending months of worry that Thousand Oaks equestrians might lose one of their most popular riding facilities, the city’s open space agency has approved moving the Two Winds stables to Broome Ranch temporarily.

The move is scheduled to begin Monday, pending ratification today by the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority, which holds the deed to Broome Ranch.

Members of the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency decided at a meeting earlier this week to use 20 acres of meadows in the northeastern portion of Broome Ranch to house the equestrian center.

The move is technically temporary, with a permanent site still to be developed, but the equestrians would spend at least a year operating from the barley-covered field just across Potrero Road from where the stables are now situated.

City and park district officials have been wrestling over how to relocate Two Winds for more than a year. The privately owned stables are on leased land on the Dos Vientos property, the site of a housing development being built by the Pasadena-based Operating Engineers.

The unanimous decision by COSCA board members was a victory for horse lovers who have been urging the city to establish a riding center on Broome Ranch since the site was purchased two years ago and turned into public land.

“We’re winning,” said Jeff Alexander, a horseman who owns a feed store in Thousand Oaks. “At least for a limited time.”

Alexander points out that the move is not permanent, at least not yet. But he said relocating to the barley field is better than moving to another site on the Dos Vientos property, a proposal that was once considered and then discarded.

“This not only gives us a couple years worth of time, but it also gives us the stability of being on publicly owned property and not having to worry about being developed,” Alexander said.

Officials did warn that environmental studies ultimately may find Broome Ranch to be unsuitable for an equestrian center: There could be historical Native American sites there, or the topography could make it difficult to provide drainage to stables without polluting natural streams.

But they said the barley field is the least sensitive area on the ranch, and they have no problems with using it for horses temporarily.

“It is a disturbed site already,” COSCA board member Rorie Skei said. “It’s been plowed and plowed and it’s directly adjacent to the road. So for a temporary site it should work.”

Officials also said there is no guarantee that Two Winds, which is privately owned, will be allowed to operate on city-owned land on a permanent basis.

“Any permanent facility would have to go out to bid,” said Councilman Andy Fox, who serves on the COSCA board. “Right now it is Two Winds, but we’ve already had interest from other facilities. This is publicly owned land and we’ll have to have a bid process.”

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, also a COSCA board member, said she wished Two Winds could have moved to the old Olympia Farms area of Broome Ranch. Olympia Farms, which is just over the crest of the hill, was formerly used for ranching, and Zeanah believes it would be the ideal location for the stables because it is set back from the road.

“My hope was that we would have made it in one move,” Zeanah said. “But the equestrians are inching toward what I feel is the right permanent site for them.”

Because it is literally across the road from the old site, the move to the barley field should be uncomplicated, officials said. Hooking up utilities will be much simpler than at the Olympia Farms site because power and water lines do not need to be extended as far.

A representative for Operating Engineers, which agreed to pay up to $100,000 of the relocation costs, said the builders also are pleased with the arrangement.

“Everybody wins,” Eric Taylor said. “This gives Two Winds a temporary facility they can stay at longer, it gives the district more time to sort out what they are going to do and it is the least expensive option for us at the same time.”