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Parking fees at the Orange County fair are increasing as officials try to save some money on the Equestrian Center — after upping rent there.
The OC Fair kick off on July 19 comes after officials approved a new $25 million administrative office on the fairgrounds.
And it’s after officials spiked rents at the Equestrian Center — one of the only public horse centers around.
From 2017 to 2022, adult admission to the OC fair cost $12 on weekdays and $14 on weekends, while senior and children’s admission was $7 any day of the week.
In 2023, adult admission increased to $13 on weekdays and $15 on weekends. The price of senior and children’s admission also rose to $9 in 2023.
For 2024, admission is the same as last year, but parking costs have increased.
From 2017 to 2022, on-site parking was $10 per vehicle. In 2023, the cost of parking increased to $12 per vehicle.
This year, parking increased again to $15 per vehicle.
“Our admission increases have been few and far between over the last several years as our Board of Directors and staff believe that we should remain as affordable as possible to the community,” Terry Moore, communications director at the OC fair wrote in an email to Voice of OC.
“The Board has only voted to increase admission rates and parking when it was absolutely necessary to meet our increasing expenses,” she said.
Reducing Costs After Spiking Rent
The OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa is set to end its contract with a street sweeping company that feeds all the horses, cleans stalls and drags arenas in the OC Equestrian Center at the end of this year.
Officials are nixing the contract after local equestrians have been raising concerns that the fairgrounds are overpaying for the service.
Fair Board member Tanya Bilezikjian told attendees at Thursday’s board meeting that they will be ending the contract with Lopez Works, Inc. and putting out calls to find a new company in January.
“Cost management is very important at the Equestrian Center,” Bilezikjian said. “Hopefully cost comes down, but we’ll see what happens when we go to market.”
The contract, originally approved in 2022, has been harshly criticized by equestrians over the past year who say fairgrounds staff is overpaying for these maintenance services.
Equestrians have also been fighting to keep boarding rates for their horses affordable.
The fair board approved a rent increase that will ultimately hike boarding rents for horses by 50% in 2025.
Renters who previously paid $644 monthly for a 12-by-12-foot boarding stall for their horse will have to pay $979 per month in the new year.
The rent is set to increase in phases, which started June 15. It should reach the full amount by January 1, 2025.
[Read: OC Equestrian Center Rent Hikes Start This Week as Tension Mounts]
Meanwhile, equestrians have been fighting back — delivering 1,270 letters to the fair board in April asking them to reconsider the rate increases and rescind the Lopez Works contract.
Some boarders refused to sign the new rental agreement, which went into effect June 15, because of the increased rates and other concerns.
They were met with 30-day notices asking them to vacate the premises.
Even though the Lopez Works contract will be canceled at the end of the year, equestrians are still required to sign the new agreement and pay the increased rates if they wish to remain at the center.
[Read: Housing Horses at the OC Equestrian Center is Getting More Expensive]
Gibran Stout, the founder of OC Vaulting, has operated her business out of the Equestrian Center for 11 years and has been asking fairgrounds staff to meet with her and other trainers to discuss problems with the agreement and make changes before she’s willing to sign it.
She said the contract uses a standard rental agreement that isn’t tailored to equestrians’ specific needs.
“It’s like using a car rental contract for renting an apartment or a house or office space,” Gibran said in a phone interview. “It’s the wrong contract for the wrong relationship.”
The agreement also requires each boarder to pay a 50% deposit — based on one month’s rent — for each stall, equipment room and locker they’ll be using, even if they’ve already been operating there for years.
For Stout, the deposits would total nearly $2,000.
“I’m being asked to pay a deposit on facilities that they’ve allowed to become dilapidated,” Stout said. “There’s no definition of what normal wear and tear is. There’s no specificity as to what the deposit would be used for.”
Massive Overhaul Planned at Fairgrounds Over Next Decade
A new administrative building at the fairgrounds property, which was approved by the board in January 2023, is currently under construction with an estimated cost of $25 million.
It’s slated to add over 15,000 feet of space for employee use, featuring meeting rooms and storage areas. The groundbreaking occurred in late April.
It’s the first part of an eight-phase master plan that aims to upgrade various buildings and add new structures between 2023 and 2033.
It’s estimated to cost $229 million to execute the entire master plan over the next decade.
Other phases include new restrooms, the expansion of Centennial Farms, a new building to serve as an educational structure, expansion of show buildings, upgrades to the Pacific Amphitheater and more.
The fair board will go on a break because of the fair and doesn’t meet again until Sept. 26.
Fairgrounds staff expect to generate about $49 million from this year’s fair.
That’s 81% of their total revenue for the year, according to a staff presentation at the June 27 board meeting.
Staff also expects to spend about $26 million on the fair, resulting in a $23 million gain.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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