Equestrian Committee Discusses Permits And Master Plan

Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee met last week to discuss revamping the Equestrian Master Plan and tweaking the wording on permit rules covering equestrian uses on land outside of the Equestrian Overlay Zoning District.

“The three golf course properties where polo and other equestrian activities occur are the Wanderers, Polo West and, occasionally, Palm Beach Polo,” explained Planning & Development Services Director Tim Stillings at the Sept. 10 meeting, noting properties included in commercial recreational zones.

The Binks Forest Golf Course is also included as commercial recreational, but Stillings wasn’t aware of any equestrian activities held there.

Previously, he said, Wellington had a three-tier system allowing three different permit types for equestrian shows and competitions. The first tier did not require a permit, the second tier requires administrative approval and the third tier requires Wellington Village Council approval.

The tiers vary based on how many days per event, how many events per year, the maximum number of entries per event, the maximum attendance per event, the number of vendors and the type of entertainment allowed.

The first tier, events not requiring a permit, is of concern to village staff.

“What I’d like to recommend for your consideration is to require that any of those events outside of the EOZD, for tier one, would require at least administrative approval, and if it were type two or type three… both of those would require council approval,” Stillings said.

Two e-mails, from Charles Jacobs and Nona Garson, were read into the record with suggestions and concerns.

Jacobs proposed a sub-tier requiring planning director approval and that two criteria be exceeded in order to bump something to the next permit type, rather than one.

Garson suggested a simple system for renewing permits and questioned how the number expected to attend are counted.

After the committee discussed the various points brought up, they came to a consensus.

“To recap,” Committee Chair Linda Elie said, “we have the maximum days per week per show/competition, so we’re adding that word, ‘per week,’ in there. We’re adding a column, 2b, which is essentially what’s in the language now that says four days, two events, 100 entries, 500 attendants and 10 vendors. And we’re making a recommendation that the permitting for 2a and b be $250 for an initial permit and $175 for a renewal permit if all of the conditions are met for renewal.”

Suggested permit renewal requirements included not receiving any complaints and not changing tiers. If the date of an event was moved but the event remained the same, it was considered eligible for renewal.

Reducing permit fees and offering the option to renew permits allows smaller events to remain, while easing the costs associated with running such an event, board members noted.

Categorizing equestrians not riding is a tricky subject that the committee had to address. Grooms, trainers and other individuals traveling with a horse but not competing are attending the event, but are not the members of the public who have come to watch the show. The solution was to describe attendants as spectators.

The committee discussed polo, spectators and the terms for renewal before Elie summed up the changes, with one addition: “We’ve added the word ‘spectator’ to the attendants.”

Committee Vice Chair Michael Whitlow made a motion to approve the changes, which passed unanimously.

Project Director Michael O’Dell led the workshop portion of the agenda, where the committee reviewed the Equestrian Trails Master Plan, opening up a discussion of the word “rural” and the phrase “rural lifestyle.”

The goal of the Equestrian Preservation Element of Wellington’s Comprehensive Plan is to ensure the preservation and protection of the neighborhoods, the equestrian industry and the rural lifestyles in the preserve, O’Dell explained.

O’Dell asked the committee to decide if the Equestrian Preserve Area can be defined as “rural,” and if not, how should it be defined.

The committee agreed that defining the Equestrian Preserve Area with just one category is inadequate. O’Dell then moved on to working on coming up with subareas to further categorize the Equestrian Preserve Area.

“What is this lifestyle, and what does it center around? It centers around the horse,” O’Dell said. “If we’re talking about the equestrian lifestyle and the equine and the animal that makes it up, maybe we should be talking a little bit more about the goal. If I have this discussion so far, all we’ve really done is talk about eliminating the word ‘rural’ because it didn’t quite work for you all, but you did focus on the lifestyle. Each one of the communities is a little bit different, but one thing that is common to all of the communities is the horse.”

A common thread throughout the evening was summarized by Committee Member Houston Meigs, who found it difficult to work on wording when the committee has an advisory role.

“It’s a matter of how we are, as a committee, going to police this goal,” Meigs said. “It’s great to have a goal, but we have to have the ability to execute it, defend it.”

Before enforcement can become the focus, Elie said that the topic at hand must first be resolved.

Focusing on the lifestyle, forming a vision or goal focused on the communities, as well as conductivity between the communities, are all important things that need to be focused on, O’Dell said, stressing that defining the goal is extremely important but was not meant to be resolved in one night.

Before breaking off for the day, Wihitlow offered a suggestion.

“I would like for our thinking to move along the lines of keeping something that has been established for a long time, which is to preserve and protect the Equestrian Preserve,” he said. “Anytime you stray off that kind of thought, you open the door to excessive development.”

In other news, O’Dell presented an update on manure hauling issues. As the price per ton of hauling fluctuates, communication has been open with the haulers to determine the best approach to eliminate and reduce illegal dumping.

Village staff has been working on an automated process for inspecting manure bins, and they hope to be ready to inspect 600 to 800 bins starting in May 2015, he said.