Permanent Site Is Found for Valley Fair

After years of searching for a permanent site, the San Fernando Valley Fair has found one at Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, officials said Wednesday.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) and signed by the governor Monday allows the fair to sign a long-term lease agreement with the equestrian center. The agreement should be finalized in August.

Under previous law, the 51st District Agricultural Assn., the fair’s governing body, would have had to purchase land for a permanent site. Hansen Dam Recreational Area is in a flood-control basin managed by the city of Los Angeles and owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, which would not sell the land to the fair.

The agricultural association will sublease the equestrian center from Eddie J. Milligan, who took over operations in 1989 and made about $3 million in improvements. The 50-acre Hansen Dam center has stalls and corrals for 200 horses, 16 riding arenas, a grand prix turf course and a rodeo stadium.

“The primary message is to allow [urban and suburban] areas to understand the agriculture industry, which is so important for the California economy,” Alarcon said. “It puts the fair on the map in the San Fernando Valley in a more permanent way.”

The fair and Milligan are now negotiating the length and cost of the lease, said fair spokesman Bruce Dahl. He said the Hansen Dam site will offer the fair a rural area with more space for parking, where it may host concerts, livestock shows and other events.

Milligan said the pair make a good match.

“It doesn’t impact our boarders one bit,” he said. “This facility just lends itself so much better to the fair.”

The lease agreement comes as a possibly happy ending to past difficulties for Milligan. In 1996, he filed suit against the city seeking $18 million in damages after saying the city reneged on a promise to give him a 30-year contract.

Two years later, as a Los Angeles city councilman, Alarcon settled the dispute between Milligan and the city. The city now has a 29-year lease with Milligan.

Last November, members of the fair’s board of directors said they wanted to move the annual four-day event held in June, from the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank to Hansen Dam, because it is one of the last remaining rural areas in the San Fernando Valley. The fair, was held in Burbank for eight years.