The woman who wants to put a 22-stall horse barn on Sandy Valley Road says she is reworking her plans to address environmental questions raised by a town consultant. She insists her farm will be extra careful with the handling of manure neighbors fear could contaminate the area.
Polly Kornblith, who calls her barn/garage complex Wildstar Farm, said her clients will occasionally take their horses for a walk in the town-owned Lowell Woods, saying horseback riding is allowed there as a form of passive recreation.
Craig Foscaldo, a leading opponent of the project, said he and fellow Sandy Valley Road neighbors remain opposed to Wildstar. When townspeople spent taxpayers' money to buy the 68-acre Lowell Woods, "it was for the enjoyment of the citizens of Westwood, not for a for-profit business," Foscaldo said.
Whether the barn's horseback riders can go into Lowell Woods is "the million-dollar question," said Conservation Commission Chairman Joseph Previtera.
"She's correct, because horseback riding is passive recreation," Previtera said. "But there are several (town boards) concerned about the safety aspect of that, and we're going to have to look at that in a little more depth and get a little more guidance."
The woods are popular with hikers and dog walkers.
Wildstar Farm is planned as an elite dressage barn that will include an indoor 20-meter-by-60-meter arena and a similarly sized outdoor riding ring. Kornblith said she and her husband, Michael Newman, wanted to build a relatively small stable where they could board their horses, and the horses of several friends and equestrian colleagues. At most, 10 outside horse owners would use the barn, she said.
She said many dressage horses are extremely expensive, starting at $50,000 per animal. She stressed Wildstar will be a well-managed operation that will bring little traffic to the neighborhood.
The property, which includes some wetlands areas and neighbors others, now consists of a house and a two-stall barn garage, both of which date to 1936.
The Conservation Commission's next hearing on the project is set for Jan. 14.
Comprehensive Environmental Inc., a consulting firm hired by the commission, produced an 11-page letter in early December that listed potential problems with the site plan. Among other things, its review questioned how Wildstar would prevent erosion of a gravel driveway onto "adjacent wetland resource areas," it also said a long-term storm water pollution prevention plan and procedures for animal waste management had not been adequately addressed.
