Mounted Patrol barns OK'd Mounted Patrol barns OK'd (February 11, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

In what could be called a case of closing the barn door after the horse got out, the Woodside Planning Commission gave retroactive approval to aspects of the Mounted Patrol's two new horse barns at the January 21 meeting. The vote was 5-0, with Stella Weng Kister and Elizabeth Hobson absent.

The private men's club faced a lengthy list of conditions back in January 2002 when it won approval to build two, 2,880-square-foot barns to stable members' horses on its grounds at 521 Kings Mountain Road.

The project provoked a firestorm of criticism from nearby neighbors of the patrol grounds who complained about noise, odors, dust and other disturbances.

A number of conditions the Planning Commission imposed on the project were designed to address those complaints.

Mounted Patrol representatives sought release from three of the conditions: manure bins must be located at least 150 feet from the top of Gulch Creek; manure bins must be covered and emptied weekly; and turn-out corrals must be 600 square feet in size.

Four of the stalls' turn-outs are less than the required size, said Planning Director Hope Sullivan, and the manure bins were built 83 feet from the creek and are uncovered. The Planning Commission denied the patrol's request to empty manure every six to eight weeks, sticking to the original condition of weekly removal, she said.

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