Fair’s equestrian manager wants out

Disputes with tenants ‘seemingly irresolvable,’ says man whose business was hired to run center in 2004.The equestrian center at the Orange County Fairgrounds could eventually be replaced with a recreational vehicle campground or a large pond, and the fair board may consider the options sooner than expected.

Rick Hanson, whose family firm Equestrian Services II was hired to manage the equestrian center in 2004, told the fair board’s buildings and grounds committee Wednesday he wants out of the firm’s five-year contract.

In August, horse trainers and riders complained to the fair board that the Hanson family had raised its fees without notice and were not fulfilling its obligation to keep riding facilities safe and clean.

The board was advised that it legally can’t do anything about the fee increases, but board members said they’d keep an eye on conditions at the equestrian center.

“Basically our management and our management style was called into question and has resulted in ongoing, seemingly irresolvable disagreements, and we basically feel that the charges that they have leveled against us have no merit,” Rick Hanson said Wednesday.

As of late last month, the center’s management and tenants seemed to have smoothed their difficulties, so the resignation request was a surprise to Kathy Hobstetter, a trainer who runs her business from the center.

“We were having good conversations” with Rick Hanson, she said.

Fair officials, however, were prepared for the question of what will happen next.

The Hansons first told fair officials a few weeks ago they wanted to end their contract, fair Chief Executive Becky Bailey-Findley said. The Hansons took over feeding and cleaning services at the center around 1994, but until 2004, the fair had always managed the center itself, she said.

The board and the Hansons will have to negotiate ending their contract, which didn’t include anything about termination.

At upcoming meetings, the fair board will hear about three options: resuming in-house management of the equestrian center, hiring another firm to manage it, or using the 7.5-acre equestrian center site for something else.

One possibility is to make the area a campground for RVs. They now park on a 5-acre grassy area along Arlington Avenue, but long-term plans show that as a festival grounds, Bailey-Findley said.

The equestrian center also could be used as a parking lot, a staging area for big events or future fairgrounds construction projects, or even a filtration pond that would help clean runoff from the entire rest of the fairgrounds.

Fair officials already have been looking into where they might relocate equestrian services -- for example, the Great Park in Irvine -- which would allow them to expand programs.

“This is just preliminary analysis of what do we need to do,” fair board member Ruben Smith said.

Smith expects it to take at least two months before the issue is brought back to the full fair board for discussion.

Hobstetter said she’s worried about losing yet another equestrian facility, after 14 such operations around Orange County have closed in the last two years.

“Land has just gotten so expensive that they’ve closed down for various reasons,” she said.

Lately, her riding programs have been full and so has the equestrian center, she said.

“I am gravely concerned that the administration of the fairgrounds will seize the opportunity to make more concrete available for cars,” she said.