Sylmar : Zone Change on Horse Stable Is Upheld

City zoning officials on Tuesday declined to overturn a previous zone change permitting a horse stable to operate in a semi-residential area, angering a group of Sylmar homeowners.

“What they’re allowing is a commercial venture in a residential neighborhood,” said Al Brill, a homeowner who attended Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing regarding the property at 13665 Polk St.

The property, just over one acre in size, had been zoned for semi-agricultural use, which permitted the owners to keep about 15 horses of their own and board two horses belonging to others. But the property owner, listed in city documents as Rochelle Mellon Gilbert, applied for a conditional-use permit to allow raising, breeding and boarding of a maximum 25 horses.

The permit was approved in early October, angering some of Gilbert’s neighbors, who circulated a petition opposing the zone change. The petition, they say, was signed by 68 of 70 homeowners and residents of surrounding properties. Brill and others said the change would result in increased traffic and noise and generate unpleasant odors, dust and flies.

Zoning officials declined to rescind the permit at the appeals hearing, but did reduce the number of horses allowed to be boarded on the property from 25 to 20, Brill said.