O.C. Fair Board declares fairgrounds equestrian center ‘is not going anywhere’

Less than two months after the release of a draft plan that proposed taking a wrecking ball to the equestrian facility at the OC Fair & Event Center, officials moved Thursday to put that horse back in the barn.

On a 7-0 vote, the Fair Board declared its intention to keep the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center at the Costa Mesa property. Board members Robert Ruiz and Newton Pham were absent.

“We need to quit horsing around — no pun intended,” said board member Douglas La Belle. “I think we need to make it very clear to the equestrian community and the users of that facility that the equestrian operation is not going anywhere.”

How or whether the facility may end up changing, he said, is “a secondary decision somewhere down the road.”

“You can applaud,” board Chairwoman Barbara Bagneris told the overflow crowd that turned out to urge the facility’s preservation.

The crowd readily obliged her.

Board members also opted to expand their equestrian center subcommittee from two members to three and directed the group to hold additional public meetings to examine the center’s operations and programs, identify any issues that need to be addressed and chart a path for building on and integrating its offerings with the wider fairgrounds.

Any recommendations that result would go to the full board for review.

“We need to move forward, and how we’re going to move forward is to get everybody involved,” said board member Nick Berardino.

Thursday’s decision is the latest development in the saga over the future of the equestrian center, which occupies about 7.5 acres on the northeast corner of the fairgrounds near the intersection of Arlington Drive and Newport Boulevard.

Supporters have mounted a fervent defense of the center since a draft master site plan for the 150-acre, state-owned Fair & Event Center proposed leveling the barns and offices to make way for carnival parking and storage, restrooms, showers and “multipurpose ground space.”

That concept was the result of more than a year of work by fairgrounds staff and a team of consultants and included several meetings to discuss what administrators, residents and others envisioned for the property.

The equestrian center’s advocates — including dozens who spoke at Thursday’s meeting — said it is a vital space that represents a clear link to the county’s agricultural heritage, serves as an emergency evacuation area for animals, and provides therapeutic programs and all-age activities that teach important life skills such as responsibility, trust, patience and self-control.

Rather than bring in the bulldozers, they said, fairgrounds officials should look to expand the center and improve its tie-in with other fairground features, such as Centennial Farm and Heroes Hall.

The possible demolition and repurposing of the equestrian center space was one of seven proposed development phases in the master site plan, carrying an estimated total price tag of $169 million.

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