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GUEST OPINION | A Little Bit About San Juan by Jessica DiCostanzo

Devon Martin and 5M Ranch

So, who bought the private estate formerly known as Blenheim Farms? Will it stay a premier horse farm? The mystery is over, and we can thank the horse gods for the competitive western rider, Devon Martin. Even more fortuitous is that Devon is an Orange County native and understands the importance of preserving the equestrian community in Southern California.

Like most of us, Martin’s parents enrolled her in camp at Rawhide Ranch as a kid … and that was it! She was hooked on horses. Martin continued to ride and take lessons at Seahorse Stables in Newport Beach. Though she describes herself as “awkward and gangly,” she recalls the confidence that being around horses gave her.

Devon took a hiatus from riding during her late teens, but she was hit hard with the “horse bug” 15 years later during a family vacation at a dude ranch. She and her husband, Kevin, went all in. The Martins bought a horse property in Santa Ana Heights, where they kept their horses and boarded a few additional horses until they outgrew the facility. This property gave her the confidence and the experience to pursue what is now known as 5M Ranch (formerly Blenheim). As she looks around and envisions the future, she “feels very blessed to be here.”

Martin plans to fine-tune the facility for performance show horses and rehabilitation. The facility features Kayla McQuaig as the resident trainer for horses in the disciplines of all-around Western and English events for AQHA, APHA, and PtHA, such as trail Western pleasure, Western riding, ranch riding, ranch trail, horsemanship, showmanship, hunter under saddle, hunt seat equitation, performance halter, and ranch conformation. Dr. Jennifer Clarke, highlighted in a previous article, will continue her rehab program out of 5M Ranch with Martin’s blessing and support.

We are grateful for Devon Martin in our equestrian community and happy to hear she loves San Juan Capistrano because of its equestrian heritage.

Jessica DiCostanzo is a San Juan Capistrano Equestrian Coalition Board Member, lifelong equestrian, and co-founder of equivont.com. CD

PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, The Capistrano Dispatch provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of The Capistrano Dispatch or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@thecapistranodispatch .com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

RESPONSE TO TRAFFIC STORY IN LAST ISSUE

ROGER BÜTOW, Laguna Beach

Depending on whom you believe, either Benjamin Disraeli or Mark Twain said, “There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics.”

The city manager (CM) seems to be hiding behind a data point or two and gives them more weight than the voices of outrage within the community that he serves. Now add the fact that he and his family live 10 miles away here in Laguna Beach, so what does he personally know about navigating SJC year-round?

Many of these angry voices are longterm residents and this, unfortunately, resembles our issues here in Laguna Beach; hence, our local controlled growth initiative on the ballot this fall.

No small irony, the CM served as our Deputy CM himself. He has a long history of experiencing and observing what happens when you throw open your community’s doors and entice and encourage year-round tourist destination hordes.

As the CM indirectly admits, what was originally zoned per the Los Rios Specific Plan as several acres of passive park space within the Los Rios District is being converted to one humongous parking lot to accommodate those visitors and the increased staffs of tourist-serving restaurants and bars.

Those lots don’t serve residents, they assist outsiders—–and don’t be surprised when, like here in Laguna, SJC is end-to-end lined with parking meters and locals are forced to purchase a $100-per-year permit to park in their own town. This is, in fact, how villages morph from quaint towns into urbanized cities.

We have the identical conundrum here in Laguna. Formerly, we had respite from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Now, every day traffic and gridlock mimes peak circulation of those 3½ high-season summer months.

A local could find parking downtown the rest of the year. No mas.

Like SJC, we have a predominantly pro-growth (commerce first, residents second-class citizens) City Council these past four years.

Regardless, the sense of place and time and the character of a small community is being eroded and gradually taken away by people who appear unwilling to “just say no” to more money but lessened quality of life (why locals live in a place, sink in their roots and stay their entire lives).

Consultants are hired only if they bring back sustaining, cherry-picked evidence that supports City Hall’s stance. Otherwise, these contractors would never get rehired. They tell governance what they want to hear and deliver what’s been pre-ordained. Otherwise, it’s next up.

And Councilmember Bourne reveals what is truly broken: the “get-out-of-jailfree card.” (That is, he admits that for members like himself, 10 years down the road is too far to allow reasonable decisions to be made.)

So, if this Council majority can’t tell good from bad long-term impact decisions, what does their decision tree actually look like?

That Mayor Reeve found no support is a definite poker tell. There is neither the will nor the staff mentality willing to face the eventual consequences head-on. The adverse ramifications will be a legacy left for subsequent councils and staff to deal with … kick the pro-development can down the road. Someone else’s problem.

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The Capistrano Dispatch, Vol. 20, Issue 13. The Dispatch (thecapistranodispatch) is published twice monthly by Picket Fence Media, publishers of the DP Times (danapointtimes.com) and the SC Times (sanclementetimes. com). Copyright: No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other editorial matter or advertisements herein may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, art, photos or negatives. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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