Fee Hikes Requested by Center for Riding

People who board their horses at Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center may be paying higher rents Aug. 1 to keep their horses at the facility.

The City Council on Monday will consider a request from Mary Harris, who leases the facility from the city, to increase rates. The last rent increase took effect on Jan. 1, 1995.

Harris, owner and manager of the equestrian center, said she has made a number of improvements to the facility since she took it over in 1986, and “a lot of costs have gone up.”

She is proposing that rent for a barn stall at the 25-acre facility rise from $340 to $360 a month and that the monthly rate for a pipe corral be $255, a $15 increase.

Harris said the new rates would be in line with those charged at comparable boarding facilities. At the Orange County Fairgrounds, for example, a barn stall rents for $365 a month.

The city staff is recommending that rents be increased to $351 a month for a barn stall and $248 a month for a pipe corral.

Deputy Community Services Director Jim B. Engle said that a rent increase to cover costs would be fair but that “asking for more than that in the current financial times I don’t think is reasonable.”

Harris said that $35,000 was spent recently to plant trees and ground cover and add a new horse trail. Also, about $24,000 was invested to make the ground softer in two arenas used for jumping.

A mixture of ground-up rubber and tennis shoes was used for the “air footing” for the jumping arenas, Harris said, and new footing was added in two other arenas.