A contentious battle between advocates of opening the public horse trails in Oldsmar and city officials is set to come to a head tonight, as the City Council will officially address the issue as part of the regular meeting agenda.
For the better part of the past four months, advocates of having the public horse trails reopened in Oldsmar’s Mobbly Bayou Preserve have repeatedly lobbied the City Council to officially address the issue.
On Tuesday night, the supporters will get their wish.
After agreeing to put the issue on the agenda during the last council meeting, the matter is listed as the ninth item on tonight’s meeting agenda.
“My thought is, if somebody asks us to put something on the agenda, we’re usually willing to oblige,” Mayor Doug Bevis told Oldsmar Connect late last week. “Not in every case, but in this case we did.”
“That being said, I’m not sure what will become of this,” he added. “We’ve discussed it seven ways to Sunday, and I don’t know what more needs to be said.”
Indeed, while the council might’ve agreed to formally address the subject, the mayor cautioned that doesn’t mean anything has changed as far as he’s concerned.
“In my opinion, nothing’s changed,” he said. “Are we doing this because it’s the politically correct thing to do? I don’t know.”
The subject became a hot button topic after dozens of supporters of Horsepower For Kids, a nonprofit farm and animal rescue facility on Racetrack Road, packed the council chambers in March, calling for a reopening of the trails that have been closed for more than a decade.
A steady stream of current and past employees and campers, as well as others dedicated to the cause, have appeared at several council meetings since then, offering impassioned testimonies and signed petitions, pleading with officials to rethink their position.
But when word came down two weeks ago that Gort was discontinuing his popular summer camp after 20+ years and 15,000 campers next month because of the situation, the outpouring of support turned into a flood of complaints aimed at city leaders.
“A terrible, terrible loss for Oldsmar,” Shannon Knight wrote on the Oldsmar Connect Facebook page. “It’s a shame the city couldn’t see it’s value.”
“Oldsmar city council you should be completely ashamed of yourselves,” Iris Alfonso wrote in the comments section of the article.
“Instead of each one of the commissioners personally investigating what this camp does for kids, you shut it out.”
Mayor Bevis reiterated that they haven’t ruled out opening trails in another part of the city sometime in the future, possibly at the undeveloped borrow pits area at nearby Brooker Creek Preserve.
“We’ve talked about maybe incorporating horse trails in other parts of the city,” he said.
“I mean, do we have to have a facility for every activity? It’s not like there’s no other places in Pinellas County they can use.”
One way or another, the issue could be resolved once and for all tonight.
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