Equestrian Center Operator Sues City

Eddie Milligan, operator of Hansen Dam Equestrian Center in Lake View Terrace, has subpoenaed Mayor Richard Riordan and the city’s entire Recreation and Parks Commission in an attempt to force a courthouse showdown over his lack of a permit to operate the facility he has run on behalf of the city for more than six years.

“My attorney says the party’s over,” the 65-year-old former jockey said this week. Milligan has filed an $18-million suit against the city for damages “based upon the return on investment, lost profits and capital investment in the equestrian center,” according to the claim.

Marcia Kamine, an assistant city attorney, said: “Our defense is, we haven’t got a license to give him, because the corps [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] has not given us their approval to grant a license. . . .We are hopeful we’ll get something from the corps soon.”

The corps, which owns the land because it is in a flood plain, has delayed approval of a lease agreement with Milligan pending resolution of environmental and land use issues, including whether equestrian center staff have the right to reside on the property.

Six years ago, Milligan, a designer and developer of equestrian centers including the L.A. Equestrian Center in Burbank, began refurbishing the decrepit Hansen Dam facility, located on land the city leases from the corps. Since then, he said, he has invested $3 million in the site.

Milligan said the city initially issued him a 30-day permit to run the facility as a concession, but revoked the permit in 1992, in part, Milligan said, because officials said he could not continue to live on the land.

Milligan refused to move out and continued to pay rent to the city and run the center, hoping an agreement on a long-term lease eventually could be reached. “What’s clear now is that the city isn’t in a position to perform,” Milligan said this week.

Milligan said he subpoenaed the mayor because Riordan was a member of the Recreation and Parks Commission when Milligan originally won the concession from the city to run the equestrian park.