Board Revises Zoning Plan to Ease Restrictions on Horses

A month after an angry stampede by horse owners and stable users, a compromise was shaping up to control commercial land use in a rural Santa Monica Mountains area south of Agoura Hills.

To move forward with the compromise, the county Regional Planning Commission agreed on Wednesday to dump the original zoning proposal, which would have added tighter restrictions on the presence of horses.

The commission’s action was spurred by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. His original “light resort and recreation” zone was first proposed in 1998 after neighbors complained about a Triunfo Canyon home known as Fantasy Island, a frequent party palace rented out for noisy weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Yaroslavsky said that proposal was “hijacked” by the county Regional Planning Commission, which he said also added on tighter restrictions for horses on properties.

“It went far beyond anything contemplated by [the Board of Supervisors], and it became perceived as an assault on horse owners in the Santa Monica Mountains, which is the last thing we wanted to do,” Yaroslavsky said.

Instead of a new zone--which would have paired recreational uses with environmental protection by adding conditional use permits for inns, campgrounds, riding academies and stables--Yaroslavsky plans a new set of guidelines for the Triunfo Canyon and Mulholland Highway area west of Malibu Lake.

These guidelines, which take the form of a community standards district, would require public hearings for commercial uses, but they won’t affect homeowners with horses or businesses such as riding academies and stables, said Laura Shell, Yaroslavsky’s planning deputy.

But Ruth Gerson, president of the Recreation and Equestrian Coalition, a group of horse enthusiasts, said many horse-friendly advocates are still wary of the county’s actions.