Equestrian Center at SDC? Don’t bet on it

An ambitious plan to convert most of the Sonoma Development Center into a 750-acre equestrian and event complex is under fire from county officials who say the project has never been approved or encouraged.

The nonprofit California Equestrian Park & Event Center wants to build a world-class horse facility on the property after the hospital is permanently closed, as the state has mandated, by the end of 2018. The “Olympic-­quality complex” would host competitive activities, with the capacity for 27,000 horses and 140 trainers, along with 125 stables and veterinary facilities.

The plan was outlined in a story published in the North Bay Business Journal, and included confident comments from CEPEC President Wanda Smith. “It’s based on community input versus what a developer might present,” Smith said in the story. “We’ve done all the development work, we’re ready to rock and roll.”

Officials bristled at quotes in the story suggesting the county is on board with the plan.

“We have outreached to Wanda Smith in no uncertain terms that this proposal is not appropriate for the site,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin on Monday. “And we have communicated to our state and federal representatives that this development proposal is not appropriate for the site.”

Gorin said she was concerned that the article implied that the proposed project has already received the green light by the state and the county. “This is totally false and misleading,” she said.

Tennis Wyck, the director of the county’s Permit and Resource Management Department said he and his deputy met with Smith a few weeks ago. “We did not endorse the project whatsoever,” he told The Sun. Wyck said he did not ask for or receive any written proposal to evaluate. “We simply listened.”

Designed to be biggest such facility west of Kentucky, the equestrian center would cost $200 million to build, Smith said. It would make $13.2 million per year, and generate annual county tourism revenue of $250 million, when up and running, she said.

The plan has not been formally recognized by the Coalition to Preserve SDC, the group, including Gorin, that has been working directly with the state on the future use of the Eldridge facility and land. The state’s Department of General Service, in its draft closing proposal, implies that the county and the SDC Coalition will be their primary partner going forward. “The department has worked closely with Sonoma County since March of 2014 when we were asked to join the SDC Coalition,” the report stated. “The department looks forward to continuing our dialog with Sonoma County.”

Smith told The Sun that CEPEC has instead submitted a proposal directly to the Department of General Services asking for a 99-year lease of open land at the eastern border of the property. The state is under no obligation to consider the document, yet Smith is confident. “They can do what ever they want to do.”

The fact that the proposal was not submitted through standard channels irked those involved in the process. “They are working around the county, not with the county,” said one staffer.

Smith contends that her group is in no way prohibited from dealing directly with the state. Although the Coalition has submitted no official plan as yet, Smith said her CEPEC model is notably different than what the Coalition is discussing. She said the Coalition is focused on the central SDC campus and hospital complex, while the CEPEC footprint is currently open space.

So, instead of lobbying to become part of any Coalition master plan, the CPEC decided to go it alone. “We don’t agree with Gorin’s group,” Smith said. “We feel our plan makes better use of the land. The community deserves a different plan.”

Although Smith first advanced the horse center idea for the SDC in May, much of the data and design have been in place since 2011, when CEPEC proposed a development for Roblar Road, west of Cotati.

At that time Smith told the Press Democrat that the county’s taxpayer-funded Open Space District was “100 percent behind” the idea of acquiring the ranch land for the horse center, a statement flatly denied, the story said, by Misti Arias, OSD conservation program manager.

In fact, the paper reported, Arias said county officials had turned down a previous proposal from Smith because of the intensity and size of development proposed.

Eventually the Roblar Valley site was eliminated from consideration, according to a CEPEC report, “due to threatened species mitigation cost (estimated at as much as $8 million) and excessive purchase price requirements of the owners.”

Smith said she first brought the idea up for the SDC at a public meeting in May of this year.

— Val Robichaud