Neighbors Seek to Rein In Lavish Stable Project

The credenza next to the wall was piled with fresh-baked brownies to eat. The mahogany table in the center of the room was stacked with preprinted, prestamped postcard endorsements to sign.

But folks filing into the plush Beverly Hills Hotel to learn about a proposed horse stable in Coldwater Canyon weren’t biting.

Residents of an exclusive neighborhood above Beverly Hills and the Trousdale Estates were reacting angrily to plans by multimillionaire David Saperstein to move his wife’s 21 horses onto a lot right next to canyon homes.

By traditional barnyard standards, the rambling, tile-roofed stable building and the corrals depicted on architectural drawings displayed around the room certainly looked fancy enough for the area, homeowners agreed.

But what about the manure stench and the horseflies that would certainly engulf their homes, they asked. And what about the horse trailers and hay trucks that would likely clog their canyon’s narrow main street?

Saperstein--founder of Metro Networks, a company that reports on traffic jams for radio stations--was not at this week’s briefing session to hear the complaints at the hotel’s Sunset Library room.

Instead, Saperstein’s team of lawyers, designers and public relations consultants hired to stage the elaborate presentation had to listen in dismay as homeowners vowed to circle the wagons and fight off the horses.

Residents said they will form their own team to challenge Saperstein’s plans for the 40-acre site on the west side of Coldwater Canyon, south of Mulholland Drive. They complain that the new plan is just a scaled-down version of one rejected by the city of Los Angeles last year.

At that time, a proposed equestrian facility was being touted as the centerpiece for a future nine-house luxury subdivision on an adjoining hillside. A Los Angeles zoning administrator rejected that project: a 51-horse stable and clubhouse proposed by a developer who is now working with Saperstein on the new plan.

The current proposal calls for the stables to be exclusively used by show horses belonging to Suzanne Saperstein. As part of the project, a 12,000-square-foot residence for the Sapersteins would be built nearby.

But canyon residents predicted that such a dwelling would instead be turned into an equestrian clubhouse. That’s because Saperstein and his wife are building a widely publicized, 45,000-square-foot mansion in nearby Holmby Hills to live in. Dubbed “Fleur de Lys,” it will reportedly have a ballroom large enough to serve a dinner party of 250.

“We are all being conned. This is not going to be their personal residence. The bigger one is,” charged Linda Thornley--who discovered from the maps and architect’s renderings that her house sits 140 feet from the proposed horse stalls.

Neighbor Rikki Levine, who a decade ago helped block a 55-house tract that an earlier developer wanted to build on the site--predicted the canyon would be overwhelmed by noise and odor if the horses come.

“This whole thing makes me ill,” said Levine, who has lived in Coldwater Canyon for 35 years.

Landscape architect Steve Smith of Glendale told homeowners that earthen berms and 250 new oak and walnut trees will screen the stables from view, however. A pond will be built to catch contaminated runoff from the stable and corral areas, he said.

Lawyer George Mihlsten of Los Angeles promised residents that the equestrian development will not be open to the public. And while the Sapersteins “have several other houses,” he pledged the canyon residence would be “their home.”

Mihlsten said he is confident that the plan will pass upcoming official reviews of the design. He stressed that it has been endorsed by groups such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and added that the Sapersteins set up the hotel show-and-tell session because “they want to be a good neighbor.”

As canyon residents moved into the hotel lobby to plan their anti-horse strategy, the public relations people inside the meeting room remained hopeful.

“Please, take some brownies with you,” implored one.