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Brooker Creek won't get horse center

The county might team with the Kiwanis on a site for the therapeutic center for disabled kids.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published September 9, 2006

EAST LAKE - Pinellas County has dropped plans to build a therapeutic horse center in the Brooker Creek Preserve.

Will Davis, county director of environmental management, made the announcement Thursday during a meeting of the county's Environmental Science Forum.

"We are going to pull this project off of Brooker Creek," Davis said. "It's no longer a Brooker Creek facility."

Davis said the county is now looking at forming a partnership with a Kiwanis Club to provide the facility at Walsingham Park, near Largo.

The decision comes months after the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve had voted in May to oppose building the horse facility on preserve grounds and suggested the county seek other alternatives.

The position is one of several ways the organization has asserted itself in recent months to take a more active role in the preserve's future. It has taken official positions on projects and proposed a land use change that would better protect the preserve.

Bruce Rinker, director of the county Environmental Lands Division, said Friday there were pros and cons to placing the horse center in the preserve.

"Under the pros, we would be pulling handicapped children into a preserve setting to enjoy the outdoors," he said.

The cons involved environmental impacts like manure management and seed dispersal, he said.

"All of that said, I am very pleased about the decision that the county has made," Rinker said.

[Last modified September 9, 2006, 06:27:03]