Half Moon Bay nears deal to curb horse poop

The existing contract, which expires at the end of the year, is vague as to who is responsible for cleaning which parts of the beach and bluff above it. As a result, horse manure is often left sitting on the beach, triggering widespread complaints from residents.

The new contract, which is yet to be approved by the City Council, would make the ranch responsible for cleaning all horse manure within the premises of the horse trail, coastal trail crossing, vertical access and Poplar Beach every day that it operates. During the peak season, it will have to clean manure three times a day. During the off-peak season, it will have to clean those areas twice a day.

The council discussed the draft contract, which spans six years, and nearly adopted it at a meeting Jan. 21, but wanted to make at least one tweak before doing so.

Councilmembers want the contract to require an annual review or “check in” to make sure everything is going according to plan and staff is in the process of adding that request to the draft contract. Once that change is made, the council appears poised to adopt the contract in the near future.

“[The annual review] is just kind of a report from staff, here’s how it’s going,” said Councilwoman Debbie Ruddock.

At the start of the meeting, councilmembers offered a different definition of an annual review. Some councilmembers were perturbed by staff’s recommendation to grant a contract for as long as six years and wanted the ability to revisit the contract each year. But they ultimately backed off that request after receiving input from Assistant City Manager Matthew Chidester, who said a five-year term is standard for a business as large as Sea Horse Ranch.

He also suggested such a requirement would be onerous for the ranch and would take up too much staff time.

“It’s difficult for a large business to operate one year knowing that maybe the city just doesn’t renew next year even if they’ve been complying with everything,” he said. “From a staff point of view, we tried to construct this in a way where the community is protected without having to move resources to it every single year.”

He added the council can terminate the contract if the ranch doesn’t meet its terms or if it determined the operation is not within the best interest of the health and safety of the community.

“I do believe the termination language in the agreement protects us on multiple fronts,” he said. “There’s language in there that provides the same cover as having to go back and review this on an annual basis without that process.”

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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