Equestrian connection is called into question

Robin Gensley Mitchell wrote in the June 30 Acorn that the Malibu Valley Farms Equestrian Center tied together nicely with the area’s equestrian heritage. She seems confused, however, about the distinction between the existing Malibu Valley Farms Equestrian Center and the proposed Malibu Valley Inn convention center.

The horse facility already exists; the convention center, billed as the Malibu Valley Inn, is the proposal that the city is currently considering. Unfortunately, however, the equestrian facility is not operating legally. Mr. Boudreau does not have a coastal development permit and isn’t likely to obtain one because the equestrian facility is not properly set back from the creek.

The Costal Commission has a violations file dating back to 2000 on Mr. Boudreau’s property. Is that, too, an “important aspect of the heritage of the Calabasas-Las Virgenes Valley?”

The draft environmental impact report for the inn did not include the equestrian center in any part of its analysis of the impact of the project, yet the horse facility is allegedly the whole premise of the “equestrian resort” and the Coastal Commission has confirmed that it is operating in violation of the Coastal Act.

Building the convention center next to the existing horse facility will not make those operations legal and it isn’t necessary to the equestrians who ride here. It will only take away from the natural beauty that brings people to the parks and trails in this area. Mary Hubbard Calabasas