Corral 54 Ride With Councilman Greig Smith
By Charlotte Brodie

For such a warm day there was a nice turnout for our ride with Councilman Greig Smith. His Chief of Staff, Mitch Englander, was also able to come on the ride with us. Too bad we didn’t have Saturdays weather, but we did have a little cloud cover. We supplied them both with "cool ties" to aid in their survival.

Our ride started at the entrance of Stoney Point Ranch and went south on Andora Avenue to Chatsworth Street. I talked to the Councilman about the need for a trail along Andora and Chatsworth, and the removal of two trees in the dirt trail area on Chatsworth east of Andora.

As we headed east on Chatsworth I shared concerns about the Davis Ranch property east of the tracks regarding it’s future as a housing development. He said that equestrian housing will be required there. The Chatsworth community plan is being changed back to the way it was to protect the equestrian lifestyle for the area north of Devonshire and west of DeSoto. That’s sure good news.

At Canoga Avenue we headed north to "Horner Hill" just above the freeway. At Rinaldi I told Greig about the need for a signal here after the Deerlake Ranch development is in and how DOT didn’t think it was necessary. A lot of folks are running the stop sign now and two schools are on Rinaldi. He’s concerned and will contact DOT about it as they have been backing out of several things they said they would do.

As we rode up the hill the Councilman said there is going to be a turnaround (staging area) made at the top of Canoga in the Stoney Point North property. The area will be not be locked so riders and hikers can park there and go for a ride or hike. We discussed the possibility of a small community arena around the hill from the parking area just below the freeway.

Greig enjoyed the tour around Horner Hill and going into the last bit of the Devils Creek area before it joins with Browns Creek. From there it was up the hill on Saugus Road.

Before our rest stop at the top of the hill in the Deerlake Highlands area, I wanted both Greig and Mitch to see the area to the north. The proposed Hidden Creeks development is in the area just north of Mormon Canyon and east of Browns Canyon. We discussed the access to this property from Mason Avenue that will need to either go over or through Mormon Canyon. There is a great need to save the riparian area in the canyon from a road. However, Greig said he doesn’t remember a bridge in the plans. He also mentioned that the amount of equestrian lots has been increased from 5 to either 11 or 13. However, I expressed that there needs to be a minimum of 25 lots to satisfy the equestrian needs of the community.

At our rest stop the Councilman was able to talk to many of the folks before we headed back down the hill and back to Andora.

At the end of our ride the Corral presented the Councilman with an "after the ride survival package" for aches and pains, a Corral T-shirt, survival certificate, map of his route and a note of trail issues we discussed (lest he forget). We also gave a T-shirt to Mitch. They both enjoyed the ride and now Greig is talking about riding a horse in the next Chatsworth Christmas Parade.

It was great to see the following Corral 54 members braving the heat to come on the ride: Diane Brewer, Lynn Leonard, Chris Nitz, Steve Perron, Marilyn Ruzicka, Wendy Solltys, Charlene Stevens, Charles Trotter and Dave Tuttle, along with several riding members from the community.

I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone that helped me make this ride a success: trail trimmers Marilyn Ruzicka, Wendy Soltys, Cindy Strauss and Lisa Ybarra; pipe cutters Lynn & Garrett Leonard; release signing & rest stop workers on the ride Cindy & Mickey Strauss and Barbara Nielsen; horses "Coach" & "Rosie" courtesy of Karen Avance; Wendy Soltys for help tacking and untacking them & keeping an eye on Mitch during the ride; photographers Carol Locus and Steve Ford that stuck with us for the whole ride; and last, but surely not least, to The Presidio Group for cleaning up the trash and looking into the ground bee situation in Deerlake Highlands prior to the ride, and providing a very generous donation for the rest stop.

Photos courtesy of Steve and Carol Ford