Encroaching development has squeezed HorsePower For Kids, a nonprofit farm located on Race Track Road, off the City of Oldsmar’s trails, leading to a passionate group of supporters packing the Council Chambers on Tuesday to express their feelings about the issue.
It’s not often you hear the words horse*bleep*, “road apples,” and manure used at an official city meeting.
But those colorful terms, among others, were uttered in Oldsmar’s Council Chambers on Tuesday night, as dozens of supporters of the local nonprofit HorsePower for Kids, Inc. packed the room in a show of solidarity for the embattled farm on Race Track Road.
The group attended the City Council meeting to express their displeasure with the lack of public horse trails in the city. Horseback riding for kids is the life blood of the facility, which also features dozens of animals, including zebras, lemurs, emus, giant turtles and more, and the recent encroachment of residential developments in the area has squeezed the campers off the trails, leaving the future of the farm in doubt.
But longstanding animosity between the two sides, stemming from previous failed negotiations between the city and HorsePower For Kids founder Armando Gort, led to high tension in the council chambers on on Tuesday.
“For the 17 years I’ve grown up on the farm, I’ve learned that the City of Oldsmar doesn’t give a rat’s behind about horses, and our farm, and anything we want to do out there,” longtime HorsePower For Kids supporter and volunteer Katelyn Hudson said during a contentions Citizens Open Forum session.
“Horse*bleep* is not that big of a problem,” she continued, referring to a study that found too much horse manure could be hazardous to the environment. “Help us find a happy medium. We want our trails back.”
According to city officials, the problem isn’t just stemming from manure, although the study that was conducted in 2003 did find that excessive horse manure can be detrimental to certain surroundings.
“I don’t want the issues to get confused,” Mayor Doug Bevis said. “The farm is a great thing. My problem is protecting the environment.”
But the adverse effect of “road apples,” as one speaker so eloquently put it, aside, the real issue is the fact that horseback riding is prohibited on public roads and parks in Oldsmar.
Additionally, HorsePower For Kids is technically located in Hillsborough County, and the council is reluctant to use Oldsmar taxpayer dollars to help subsidize a facility located outside of the city.
Add in the fact that previous attempts at negotiating a use agreement with Gort ended with a bucket full of bad blood, and there have been no interactions between the two sides since 2009, and it’s easy to see how the situation has led to the current stalemate.
“We tried to work with Armando years ago when I was mayor…and Armando would not cooperate with us,” recently re-elected council member Jerry Beverland said. “He wouldn’t pick up insurance. He actually left and went to Pasco County and left me out there hanging after all that I did for him to get the trails out here.”
“I went way out on a limb and got a consensus of the council when I was mayor, and he…refused to work with the council.”
When contacted by Oldsmar Connect, Gort admitted he walked away from the situation at the time, but he believes the city has never supported him.
“I didn’t go the meeting the other night because they never got along with me,” Gort said by phone two days after the meeting. “We’ve been going through this with Oldsmar forever. We’ve been in circles with them.”
“Jerry Beverland keeps bringing that up, but it happened eight years ago,” he added. “I have liability insurance for $2 million, but they said I had to get special insurance for $5 million. I left temporarily, and when I came back, they said the contract had expired. Who does that? What difference does it make that it was 3 or 5 years later? Why would the contract expire?”
As the situation plays out, Gort said his farm, which he founded more than 20 years ago, is in danger of closing if horseback riding is removed.
“When the economy went bad I started bringing other animals in, but the horses bring the people and the money in,” Gort said. “And now I’ll probably have to sell and move up north because we can’t ride.”
He said he is currently forming a committee to tackle the situation head-on, and HorsePower For Kids’ legion of supporters have already embarked on a letter-writing campaign to help get the word out.
“We sent 300 letters to (Senators) Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson to try and get support for this,” he said.
“It’s a shame, because it’s a personal thing they have against me. We do so much for the community, why not try and help us? There are many kids here who are heartbroken because we have to close.”
Towards the end of Tuesday’s meeting, some council members said they have nothing against Gort and they do not want the farm to close, and they all said they were willing to see what could be done to make the situation work for all parties.
“I have zero history with Armando…and I have no opposition to horses or trail riding in the city,” Council member Gabby McGee said. “I don’t know a particular place, but I think that’s definitely something that needs to be discussed in the future.”
“It’s not Armando, it’s the issue,” Council member Eric Seidel said. “It’s kind of a a new issue to hear about…and I am prepared to go and do research (on it).”
“I think you have some good ideas…and I just want you to know I’m listening,” Council member Dan Saracki added.
While the council agreed to keep the lines of communication open, Mayor Bevis said he’s not sure how the situation will be resolved.
“I’m not sure what is going to happen,” Bevis told Oldsmar Connect. “It’s a new council but it’s the same issue. I don’t know that horses are compatible with that type of area, with the bay, and the tides coming in. Maybe that’s changed. I’m not sure.”
The mayor did say he is willing to listen if a potential solution to the situation is brought before the council.
“The first step would be to find out what they’re requesting, and then bring those requests before the Leisure Services Board to review before coming to us.”
But he added the fact that HorsePower For Kids relies so heavily on an activity it has no control over is an inherently flawed business plan.
“I think their mission is good, but I think their business model is failed,” Bevis said.
“I think you have a poor business model if 90-percent of the services you provide are dependent on land you don’t own. I get the therapy part, but it’s basically trespassing.”
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