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Lyons residents express displeasure about horse facility

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LYONS TOWNSHIP — Dozens of town residents are adamant against having a horse show facility in their backyards, calling it a "circus" that would ruin the beautiful setting where they have lived for decades.

The Lyons Plan Commission on Wednesday heard a proposal from Mark Knauer of Geneva Show Productions to build an equestrian show facility on 80 acres near the intersection of Back Road and Sheridan Springs Road.

Knauer is planning a "world-class" facility for AA rated shows sanctioned by the United States Equestrian Federation. The rating is the highest given by the organization.

The facility would include show arenas with seating for spectators, horse holding and handling areas and parking.

Knauer plans to host horse shows six weeks out of the year—three weeks in late spring and three weeks in early fall. The facility also could be used for other events, including smaller horse shows in the summer.

The project is estimated to cost $3 million to $3.5 million and bring in $8 million to $10 million in terms of lodging, eating and shopping, Knauer said.

"It's a fun business, and we would love to have it here in this community," he said.

The plan commission took no action on the proposal, which was on the meeting agenda for discussion only.

Knauer said the facility would hardly be an interruption to the rural setting of the township.

"A horse show facility essentially is a field with fencing around it and some improvements in terms of gravel roadways and sand show arenas for 85 percent of the year," he said. "The other 15 percent of the year … we would have horse shows."

Knauer said tents would go up, trucks would drive in and out and horses would fill the stables.

But town residents disagreed with his assessment that such a facility would have little impact on the surrounding area.

Several people argued the roads are not constructed to handle the traffic to and from the facility. And several other people argued the wetlands and river are not capable of handling the water that would be diverted off the property.

The people who live across the street from the proposed facility were most concerned with the impact it would have on their property values.

"I am just ill looking at this, knowing that this is a possibility in this area," one homeowner said. "I don't know who'd want to buy my property if they saw there was a horse show facility across the street."

Town residents also called Knauer out, saying he mentioned several times the benefit the facility would have to hotels, restaurants and stores in nearby Lake Geneva but never the benefit it would offer Lyons Township.

"I know why you're excited, but I can't image why anyone (who lives near the proposed facility) would be excited or why Lyons Township would be excited to have it here," one man said.

Dave Held, plan commission chairman, said the proposal doesn't fit with the town's master plan, which calls for the property to remain farmland. He said rezoning the property would be a "big hurdle" to clear before the proposal moves forward.

Al Bjorkman, plan commission secretary, agreed.

"(Rezoning the property) would be a fundamental culture and land-use change that would change that part of the township forever—and it would never turn back," he said.

Several town residents suggested Knauer consider the former Geneva Lakes Kennel Club in Delavan for his proposed horse show facility.

Knauer laughed and said he wasn't familiar with the property.