Lake View Terrace : Offer to Build Horse Arena Still Stands

When Los Angeles city parks officials announced an $800,000 project to renovate Orcas Park and build a new equestrian arena there, Eddie Milligan said he could hardly believe his ears.

Milligan, who operates the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center next door to the park, said he offered to build an arena there for free, six years ago. And, he said this week, the offer is still good.

City officials acknowledge that Milligan, an ex-jockey who has designed and built riding facilities such as the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank and the Malibu Riding and Tennis Club, made the offer.

But, they said, any development at the eight-acre park is complicated because it lies in a flood-control area overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and because part of the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because Native Americans once lived there.

“It requires geological study and the involvement of the [Army] Corps” to build on the site, said Jim Andervich, assistant general manager of the parks department’s San Fernando Valley division. “The project has taken on a different scope” since Milligan made his offer, Andervich added.

The park on Foothill Boulevard was closed by the city in 1992 because of problems with overcrowding and gang-related conflict. Late last year, the parks department set aside voter-approved Proposition A funds to reopen the park with a wider entrance road, a horse arena, new picnic facilities and extra parking for horse trailers.

Milligan said he offered to prepare and grade the site for free, build one equestrian arena and hold fund-raisers to pay for additional improvements.

“I said: ‘City, mark a spot and I’ll build it free of charge.’ We horse people are a special-interest group, and should be willing to pay our fair share.”

Milligan said he knew about the historic status of part of the park and that his arena design would have left that area undisturbed.