A.J. residents, councilman seek code revision

Beverly Hansen's family arrived in Apache Junction when there was no electricity or plumbing in the 1970s.

But she says the homeowners associations coming to the community are bringing a new atmosphere to the city known for its equestrian heritage.

The owner of one of 15 commercial horse boarding operations in the city, Superstition Stables, Hansen is among a group helping come up with ways to revise and update city code overseeing the horse boarding industry.

The goal is to update code to operations that existed before current and in some cases more restrictive code was put in place. And it's also to ensure homeowners association residents and the boarding operations can live together amicably.

"The city is growing very fast. We're getting a lot of people that belong to HOAs that we've never had before," she said. "And A.J. has always been known as the horse community. If we're to stay the horse community, then we need to lay some foundation so people who are moving in, especially to HOAs, know what we're about."

Councilman Chip Wilson is viewed as a key player in tying together both communities as the city deals with growing pains. He has been working with area officials and equestrians to come up with revisions to current code, which residents can talk about during a public meeting at City Hall.

The city's planning and zoning committee and the City Council would need to approve any changes before they take effect.

Wilson, a horse enthusiast himself who lives on more than an acre of land, said times have changed. Today, many of the horse enthusiasts have the animals for pleasure and sport, he said. But Wilson said there are problems with codes put in place years ago that in some ways have never been enforced on horse boarding operations.

Among the issues Wilson would like to change is a restriction that makes it illegal for boarders who come from all over the East Valley to park their trailers at the horse boarding facilities, something many already do since it is more convenient to do all of their riding activities in Apache Junction. Current code, though, restricts that.

HOAs many of the boarders live in also restrict trailers parked along the streets. Also veterinarians are currently restricted from visiting one facility to treat horses owned by a variety of residents. Only horses living at the property can be treated at the property, meaning under current code a veterinarian has to travel to more places, and charge residents more for separate visits and related expenses.

"Some of these rules were put in way back when the city was first formed," Wilson said. "The people who wrote the rules didn't think about what the ramifications were to the stable facility."

Also proposed are changes that require all horse boarders to keep up stringent cleaning standards, though Hansen points out that many like hers already have clean facilities.

And the changes could also lift restrictions in code against training and holding events on the properties. Wilson said under proposed changes, the boarders would be allowed to hold practice sessions for riders. That's not allowed under the current code.

Also events held for money would be allowed under a special use permit from the city. Wilson said allowing the activities would also help the town reap more tax revenue, and the events would draw more equestrians to the city.

"What this does is allow the facilities to offer more things," he said. "It's designed to open it up to the point where a lot of facilities say they would love to be able to offer some of this stuff, but they can't because of the way zoning is. They're constantly getting asked by the general public for riding lessons - and what better place to do it."