Horse enthusiasts are making a last ditch effort to ensure their passion is recognized in the Squamish Official Community Plan (OCP).
As the Monday (Nov. 15) OCP comment deadline looms, a handful of equine aficionados are asking local residents to sign their petition.
"We're just as important as the mountain biking and the soccer," said organizer Karin Buchanan. "It's a viable economy. There's lots of money made in the horse world."
The petition asks that the District of Squamish identify, recognize and preserve equestrian properties and hobby farms.
"In recent years, many horse fields and stables have disappeared due to the highway expansion and housing developments resulting in several families either having to sell their equines or relocate to more horse friendly towns," states the petition.
"There are currently insufficient boarding opportunities and it is very difficult to find a suitable location to house an equine animal."
Buchanan said she hasn't approached Squamish council or staff yet, but wanted to get the petition going as soon as she heard about the deadline for comments.
"I might be too late, but I'm really going to try."
The response from the public has been tremendous, according Buchanan.
"I got 65 signatures in 90 minutes at Save-On-Foods. I was so impressed, they're not horse people and they don't want to see everything just developed, they want green space and animal usage in pockets.
"I don't want to see condo-land everywhere."
The Finch Drive area has long been the traditional home for Squamish horse owners. There are currently 34 horses in the neighbourhood, the Squamish Valley Equestrian Club is located there, as is the club's arena.
"And 34 is not just a handful. It's a lot of horse. That's the biggest concentration of horses in Squamish," said Buchanan.
But the encroachment of a large-scale development has already seen a large swath of forest come down in that area, and with the OCP designating the area as future multi-family residential use, Buchanan and her colleagues are worried horses and their owners will be "phased out."
"I'm not really demanding that they keep the existing properties -my friends who own all those properties, they should be able to do what they want with it. But the OCP [should] include us when they do apply for rezoning one day."
Buchanan said there are a few pockets of Squamish that still allow for a small number of horses, but those too are under threat by development. And the Paradise Trails project proposal, which would see 40 stables and an equestrian centre built in the Paradise Valley, is too tenuous to rely on, said Buchanan.
"[Paradise Trails] is not the only answer. It's sounds like he [the developer] is having a really hard time getting it developed and getting approval for it, so I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket."
Buchanan and her group will be continuing their petition campaign Saturday (Nov. 14) at Nester's in Squamish Station Mall and on the Brennan Park soccer fields. They and pony Prince are attracting lots of attention, she said.
Anyone wishing to sign the petition can email Buchanan directly at [email protected].
