Fate of beloved Lakewood Community Center up in the air
The future of the beloved Lakewood Equestrian Center lies in the hands of city council members, who will decide if they want to keep the facility open or replace it with a sports complex filled with pickleball courts and a skatepark.
Dozens of locals attended the meeting on Tuesday, voicing their support of keeping the center open and running as it is. The public comment portion of the meeting lasted nearly two hours, with some of the people even bringing their animals along to prove their point.
Rich Lockridge, who brought his pet burro named Burrito to the meeting, says that he relies on the equestrian center to board Burrito and three horses.
"He may become homeless if something doesn't happen tonight," Lockridge said.
The center has been open more more than eight decades, offering riding lessons and a petting zoo to the public, along with housing more than 100 horses, including Two, who belongs to Jenny Meeker.
"Finding a home for him that is close to my home that's in this urban setting, the care he received and the love he received, I never had to worry about him," Meeker said.
On top of boarding horses, the equestrian center is also home to six different women-owned businesses.
"It would not only shut down these businesses, but also undermine female entrepreneurship in our city," said one woman who spoke during public comment.
Despite this, a city staff report claims that Lakewood will lose more than $100,000 this year from the equestrian center, a big part of the reason why the future of the center is up in the air. On top of this, the report claims that most of the people who do board their horses at the center aren't actually from Lakewood.
A newly proposed sports complex, filled with pickeball courts, a community center and a skatepark, could soon replace the Lakewood staple.
After hours of meeting, city council members decided to shelve the vote for 60 days, at which time they will revisit the issue. In the meantime, they want city staff to locate another operator and look into a site plan that reduces the size of the equestrian center to solely city land.
