The efforts by a group of determined activists attempting to save the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center came to an abrupt end on Tuesday, Sept. 10, when the 100-year-old facility was demolished by the Pebble Beach Company.
“We thought things were going our way,” says Laura Fenwick of the Pebble Beach Equestrian Coalition. They had petitioned the county with the help of an attorney and the Alliance of Monterey Area Preservationists had applied to the State of California to be on the state’s historic registry.
On Sept. 3, the Monterey County Housing and Community Development Department issued a memo stating that planners had put a “cautionary hold” on the PBC demolition permit the company applied for in May, but that upon review they could find no reason to deny the permit.
“None of these arguments would justify non-issuance,” the memo states. “Historical Resource law does not offer any substantive protection against demolition of the Equestrian Center.”
A big reason why: The county’s ordinance provides that no property can be designated historic without the property owner’s consent. PBC officials formally objected to the designation on July 19, according to the memo.
Through the law firm Buchalter, the coalition argued in a letter dated Aug. 6 that eliminating the equestrian center would be violating a 2012 county approval of development permits. Those permits stated that PBC could remove the center and replace it with a smaller equestrian facility. The coalition contended that the 2012 permits would have to be amended first, and that a full environmental review would be necessary under the California Environmental Quality Act.
“CEQA is not triggered because the permit is ministerial and because there is no trigger for supplemental CEQA review for the overall project,” the county replied in its memo. CEQA only comes into play with discretionary decisions.
“We don’t have any more money,” Fenwick says. “We gave it our best shot…if we had unlimited money we could fight but we don't.” The coalition raised approximately $20,000 through donations. Attorneys fees were $17,000.
Fenwick says they will wait to see what PBC does with the 48-acre space, located on Portola Road. She says it's supposed to be used for recreational use, and specifically, for equestrian activities. PBC did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
PBC officials announced on March 4 that they would close the equestrian center permanently on June 30, stating that it was no longer economically viable, despite its storied history—at one time it had been the site of the U.S. Team Trials for the Olympics.
The facility needed more than $15 million in renovations and had been operating at a loss in recent years, according to PBC. Opponents to its closure argued that the center could be economically profitable with changes, but the company would not budge in its decision.