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| Horse riders wary after victory By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 10:56 AM PST Horse-riding advocates are pleased they were able to thwart a city of Half Moon Bay proposal to restrict beach access, but they don’t expect to disassemble the cavalry anytime soon. More skirmishes are already being seen down the dusty trail. In a close split decision last week, the City Council rejected placing new restrictions on horses traversing a short strip of beach between Kelly Avenue and Poplar Street. In a subsequent vote, council members instead unanimously endorsed a tamer plan to leave horse privileges intact and instead post safety signs and organize volunteer groups for education and manure cleanup. City officials and the equestrian leaders are expected to meet in the coming days to cooperate on new arrangements, including an unspecified volunteer effort to “educate” the public on horses and clean up manure on the beach. But reaching a compromise after months of intransigence remains difficult. “The challenge in the past has been getting the city and horse community on the same page, and I don’t know if it’s gotten any easier now,” said Willa Chapman, executive director of the Friendly Acres and Sea Horse ranches in Half Moon Bay. The city and local equestrian advocates disagree about the safety of horses on the beach. Local equestrian advocates insist that the current unrestricted system of horse riding on the beach is safe, and they remain suspicious that the city still intends to restrict horse riding in the near future. City officials pledged last week to begin monitoring and recording any instances of unsafe riding on the city beaches, and to review equestrian guidelines next year. Larry De Young, president of the Coastside Horse Council, says the city could be laying the tracks to make a stronger case for horse restrictions next year. “Revisiting the (horse rules) next year might give the city more ammunition,” he said. “The city says it’s an accident waiting to happen, and I’m concerned we’ll start documenting whatever people say are accidents.” The City Council decided to keep the current “status quo” for horse riding last week at the climax of an impassioned public meeting to review a long-planned ordinance to limit access for horses on city beaches. The meeting was attended by more than 80 avid horseback riders from throughout the Peninsula, about 40 of whom publicly urged council members to vote against any new restrictions. Elected officials were considering three separate options for how to restrict horses. The first option would have put up safety signs, limited all horses to within 20 feet of the coastal bluffs and restricted commercial horseback tours to essentially follow a one-way path. The second option was similar but would have restricted riders only from commercial horseback tours from the local ranches. The third option, which the city eventually approved, put no restrictions on horses but was amended to include an unspecified program to clean up horse waste left on the beach. Horse-riding advocates varied their public comments between praising the community and threatening litigation and frequently could not hold back their applause or catcalls, despite numerous warnings from Mayor John Muller. City officials including Councilman Jim Grady, Councilwoman Bonnie Dunham and Police Chief Don O’Keefe argued that the city’s beach stretch needed stricter rules because accidents had happened in the past and could occur again down the road. After more than an hour of public commentary, Grady presented some photos showing a horse on the beach that had knocked off its rider and was uncontrolled. Many attendees balked, saying it was taken from a different beach. “I’m not going to listen to this kind of crap!” said Alan Demmons, a horse enthusiast who stood up and began shouting. “This is crap! It’s crap! I won’t respect this kind of nonsense!” Demmons left before city officials could ask him to leave. Dunham and Grady, both serving their last council session before newly elected members replace them, together made a motion to have the city restrict commercial horse riding on beaches. “I have no thought of doing away with horses on the beach,” Dunham said. “But I feel everyone needs to share this beach, and safety is an issue.” Councilwomen Naomi Patridge and Marina Fraser voted against that motion, with Muller joining them to cast the final vote to reject the ordinance. In a following vote, the entire council approved the milder plan to post safety signs and encourage waste cleanup. |