‘World-class’ equine center planned on Frazier Lake Road
Kevin Chambers has a dream
– and it’s a dream that involves San Benito County.
In the outskirts of the county near its border with Santa Clara
County in a dirt lot of nearly 90 acres, Chambers, who is the
manager of the Portola Valley Training Center in Menlo Park, has an
idea that could change the landscape of the Frazier Lake Road
area.
That dream is to build a 60-acre event center that would focus
on equestrian-style games in the unincorporated part of San Benito
County, on Frazier Lake Road near its intersection with Shore Road.
The large center would have a large event facility with stadium
seating, more than 10 arenas that are both covered and open, and
nearly 700 stables. The main stadium would have the capacity to
hold 3,834 people.
‘World-class’ equine center planned on Frazier Lake Road
Kevin Chambers has a dream – and it’s a dream that involves San Benito County.
In the outskirts of the county near its border with Santa Clara County in a dirt lot of nearly 90 acres, Chambers, who is the manager of the Portola Valley Training Center in Menlo Park, has an idea that could change the landscape of the Frazier Lake Road area.
That dream is to build a 60-acre event center that would focus on equestrian-style games in the unincorporated part of San Benito County, on Frazier Lake Road near its intersection with Shore Road. The large center would have a large event facility with stadium seating, more than 10 arenas that are both covered and open, and nearly 700 stables. The main stadium would have the capacity to hold 3,834 people.
The plans, which have evolved during the three-year planning process, call for six different parking lots that would total nearly 1,300 spots and a 6,000 square-foot restaurant.
The entire center will be more than 2.6 million square feet, and currently only a gated entryway and man-made hill show what the land could look like.
The project is a culmination of Chambers’ and his dad Wendell’s dream to establish and routinely hold a “world-class equestrian event.”
From 1997 to 2002, the Chambers were living that dream, holding the Portola Valley Classic Equestrian Festival at their business in Menlo Park, which they bought in 1990 but eventually the costs caught up to them.
The crowded training center wasn’t fit for a yearly equestrian event, Kevin Chambers said. With the lack of space, the event was “basically on top of itself.”
Despite receiving top awards, including best horse show of the year in its inaugural run, it wasn’t making much money, he said. Because of its small size, it was difficult to bring in donations for prize money and other festivities.
“We need to have a bigger venue that can attract those donors,” Chambers said.
In addition to its small size and lacking purse, the event’s structures were all temporary.
“Everything you see was temporary – and that’s a lot of extra labor,” Chambers said. “All of that labor is brutal.”
And permanency is what the Frazier Lake Road site would bring, Chambers said. With a larger space and more room to move, events can be bigger and draw more people.
“It could have up to 20 horse shows a year – it’s not realistic right now, but you have to dream big,” Chambers said.
And the events don’t have to be just horse shows, Chambers added. He hopes to hold dog shows and other events, including weddings. It also would serve local horses that become ill, Chambers said. In its plans, the project has a satellite equine medical center run by Russ Peterson, who oversees the main office in the Portola Valley.
The facility would have state-of-the-art technology including a transportable X-ray machine. It would not be as big as the horse clinic in Portola Valley, and large surgeries would not take place on the Frazier Lake Road site.
“I think anytime you have a large facility with a lot of horses, it becomes important for us to be there,” Peterson said.
The facility, however, could hold minor surgeries when they would have to occur immediately – instead of sending the horses to Portola Valley. The digital technology would allow them to use portable equipment at the Frazier Lake Road facility.
There are no plans to develop a complete medical center at the Frazier Lake Road site, but its technology would be available to the county when needed.
In addition to the medical center availability, Chambers wants to focus on establishing San Benito County-based jobs.
“When we open up, we are going to need workers,” he said. “I absolutely want the jobs to stay within the county.”
Once the facility is up and running, Chambers estimated it would create more than 200 full-time jobs. During construction, Chambers would hope to hire labor within the county, he said.
He believes the center would help the local horse community grow.
A couple of trainers at the Portola Valley Training Center see the project as a boon to the Northern California equine community.
“I like to see a premier facility in Northern California – and more than one and more than in just this location for all the benefits the horse world needs,” trainer LesAnn LeClaire said. “The cost down there is amazing – what you get for the cost. I’d like to see some high-quality events in the area.
The San Benito County site would be another great center to choose from – away from Southern California.
“The setting is amazing – it’s a beautiful place,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the day when they can hold horse shows down there.”
Trainer Nancy Thomas said the plans would bring a “fantastic benefit” to the horse community.
“It’s going to bring more interest,” she said. “Kids are going to come and watch and say, ‘hey that’s what I want to do’ and 20 to 30 years later that’s going to be a future Olympian.”
The future might not be far off, as the project is beginning to find traction within the county after three years.
The mitigated negative declaration was prepared by the county’ planning department and was released for public review on Wednesday, Assistant Planning Director Byron Turner said. Depending on public comments, the estimated $6.5 million project could be approved by the end of the year, but Turner expects it could take a little longer to complete.
“If there are comments to address, we will spend some time responding to them,” Turner said. “We really don’t know.”
The public has 30 days from the initial release to comment to the document, Turner said. Afterward, the planning department would respond to the comments and, based on the responses, send it to the planning commission to approve the site’s use permit.
Chambers hopes to start and finish construction of the facility within two years of the county’s approval, he said.
The county chose to use a mitigated negative declaration because the project lacked a heavy environmental impact.
The land itself is not farmable and is used for grazing, Chambers said. The land was purchased because of the possibility to build on it – instead of grow on it.
“It’s worthless – you just can’t grow very well on it, and I was told that when I bought it,” he said.
