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With rental rates set to start increasing this Saturday, equestrians continue fighting to keep boarding rates for their horses affordable at the OC Fairgrounds Equestrian Center in Costa Mesa.
The phased increase, which will ultimately hike rents by 50% in 2025, comes after OC Fair Board officials had to re-cast their votes on the issue after staff misinterpreted the board’s parliamentary rules.
In March, board members voted to approve the increased rental rates in a 3-2 vote with one abstention. Although the board interpreted that vote as enough to pass the changes, it did not meet the requirements to pass the item.
Two months later, board members were forced to backtrack after discovering they improperly passed that March vote.
Since six of the eight-member board were present during that meeting, four “yes” votes were required to reach a majority and pass the rates at that meeting — regardless of abstentions.
“We have been informed by counsel that the previous vote that we took on the rental rates actually failed,” OC Fair Board Chair Nick Kovacevich said during the board’s meeting on May 23. “We incorrectly interpreted that as a vote that passed, when in actuality, it failed.”
[Read: OC Equestrian Center Boarding Rates Set to Nearly Double by Next Year]
The board, forced to revote at the May 23 meeting, unanimously passed the rate increases, which are scheduled to go into effect on a rolling basis starting on June 15 — this Saturday.
Fairgrounds CEO Michele Richards attributed the error to a flaw in the board’s policy for agendas and meetings.
“Board Policy 3.05 contains two separate instructions for vote-taking which are in conflict with each other,” Richards wrote in an email to Voice of OC. “This was not intentional, but rather an oversite when the policy was developed.”
The policy states that a “majority of the members present, regardless of abstentions, is required for approval.”
The vote formally approved a 52% monthly rate increase for horse stalls by January 1, 2025.
Renters who currently pay $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 increases are set to roll out with a phased approach.
On June 15, monthly rates for a 12-by-12-foot boarding stall will increase to $756. On October 1, that amount will increase again before reaching the total price tag in January.
The rate increases are meant to better match the center’s costs and avoid a gift of public funds, which is prohibited under state law.
[Read: Housing Horses at the OC Equestrian Center is Getting More Expensive]
Fairgrounds officials have also been discussing a new public programming model to get more residents involved with the equestrian center, horses and equine therapy.
Board members Robert Ruiz and Tanya Bilezikjian serve on the board’s facilities committee, which will be working to help develop future public programming.
“The facilities committee is going to work with the equestrians to make this work moving forward because whatever public program we want to implement, if they’re not here, then obviously that doesn’t work,” Ruiz said.
Bilezikjian said she wants to meet with current business owners who already offer lessons or other resources at the center to find a way to work together moving forward.
“As we develop all the public programming for the future, I don’t see any reason why we should stop doing some of the great stuff that’s already happening,” Bilezikjian said. “I would love to find ways for that to continue on, keep you guys there, keep the good things going that we have while we pursue our new model.”
Public meetings at the OC Fair & Event Center have been heating up as equestrians become more critical of the fair board.
Gibran Stout, equestrian and founder of OC Vaulting, tried to attend a publicly-noticed meeting and training session on June 4 before she was asked to leave.
Stout was told the agenda and notice for the meeting were posted mistakenly and the public wasn’t allowed to attend the training sessions hosted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, according to an email exchange between Stout and Mike Francesconi, a branch chief for the department.
The session included hostile work environment prevention training, in addition to information on Open Meeting Act requirements.
At several recent fair board meetings, vocal equestrians have also pointed to a 2022 maintenance contract with a street sweeping company that critics have called out as too costly.
The center contracts with Lopez Works, Inc., which feeds all the horses, cleans stalls and drags arenas in the center.
Equestrians claim the center is overpaying for these services, which is why the public now has to pay more to make up for it.
In April, equestrians delivered 1,270 letters to the fair board, asking them to rescind the increased rates, cancel the contract with Lopez Works and find a new operator.
Richards told Voice of OC in a previous interview that the fairgrounds staff is satisfied with the contract and is not considering cancellation.
But at the board’s May meeting, Kovacevich said he would be open to reviewing the contract if needed.
“If the facilities committee determines that the board should revisit the LWI [Lopez Works, Inc.] contract or staff or both of you, I will get that back on the agenda if I’m chairperson at the time,” Kovacevich said.
“Nothing in approving these rents prevents us from making a change on who the operator of that facility is, as deemed appropriate by the contracts we have signed,” he said.
While the board continues to discuss its new model and future public programming, Kovacevich emphasized that there still could be future cost-saving measures passed on to the public.
“We’re directing staff alongside the facilities committee to continue to work to fine-tune the vision and the new model and also find ways to reduce cost for the private boarders and trainers that are coming over from the old model,” Kovacevich said.
But equestrians are still wary about the changes and fear the rate increases will drive them out.
During public comment at the May meeting, critics said the rent increases will price out working-class equestrians and trainers.
“We’re going to have to raise our prices so high that we will only be able to serve the 1% and uber-wealthy, and those people do not want to ride at the worst-kept facility,” said Sarah Klifa, co-founder of the nonprofit Changing Strides, which offers free lessons and equine therapy to underprivileged youth at the Equestrian Center.
“I often cannot pay my vet bill, board bill and rent in the same month,” she told board members. “Where am I going to find an extra $5,000 for this deposit I suddenly have to fork out?”
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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