8 (Horses) Is Enough Per Acre in O.C., Planning Panel Says

What started as a community debate over how many horses were too many for Orange Park Acres residents apparently turned into a potential countywide cap of eight per acre Wednesday as the Orange County Planning Commission voted to tighten restrictions on horse keeping in unincorporated areas.

If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the recommendations will allow residents to house one horse per 5,000 square feet -- or eight horses an acre -- with an option to keep a maximum of 12 horses after obtaining a permit from the county. Horses younger than 2 would not be counted.

Residents of the neighborhood, an island of county land surrounded by the city of Orange, have become deeply divided over the issue. Many of them banded together to form organizations on both sides after plans to limit the number of horses surfaced, and more than a dozen spoke at Wednesday’s 2 1/2 -hour public hearing.

Scott Richmond, a 30-year resident and member of the Coalition for the Preservation of Orange Park Acres, said he believed that the limit set by the commission should have been four horses an acre.

“The basic issue is preserving a healthy quality of life,” he said. “We like horses, but we’re here today because a few people want to turn OPA into OPA Stables.”

Richmond added that the ordinance, which the Planning Commission intended to prevent residents from illegally boarding other people’s horses, would instead encourage the practice.

The county forbids boarding for profit on residential land, but neighbors in Orange Park Acres have sued one another over illegal boarding operations -- which fill a need, many say, caused by the lack of public stable space in the county.

While some residents complain that horses create traffic problems and bring dust and flies, others say horses are the reason they moved to Orange Park Acres in the first place.

Cheryl Skigin, a member of Horses for Orange Park Acres, said her organization -- which originally opposed the ordinance -- was satisfied with the outcome of the vote.

“Eight was not the right number, but it was a compromise number,” she said. “A lot of people who built their lives around keeping horses won’t have to be told they’ll have to get rid of them.”

Group member Lynn Canton said an earlier proposal by Supervisor Bill Campbell would have limited the number of horses to six, which would have displaced more than 200 of the animals in Orange Park Acres.The Planning Commission vote was 3 to 2.

Commissioner David Zenger said he voted against the ordinance because the limits it set seemed “somewhat arbitrary.”

“What we’re dealing with here is a countywide policy ... that’s really been tailored for a very small area,” he said.

County planner Michael Wellborn said that for the immediate future, the ordinance would apply only to Orange Park Acres.

“The ordinance is available to the Board of Supervisors for future use, but it will not go into effect at any other community right now,” he said. “If communities choose to apply the regulations, they’ll have to go through a full public hearing process again.”

The commission will submit the regulations to the supervisors within six weeks.