After several meetings of deliberations, the Fairfield Glade Community Club board of directors made a decision to cease all operations at the Wildwood Stables.
The decision stands to take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
“Therefore, after review and discussion yesterday, I make a motion to cease all operations at Wildwood Stables effective Jan. 1 2025,” said FGCC Board Treasurer Bruce Horn.
“This motion also stipulates that the use of the land be referred to the strategic planning committee for inclusion in the future land use development plan.”
Vice President Scott Hartema seconded the motion.
President Greg Jones asked each of the board members to give their opinions to give the community some insight into what was part of the discussions in the closed executive meetings.
“Again, I want to echo my appreciation for all the hard work that the committee did in providing information to the board,” said Mary Jacobsen, newly elected director at-large. “This was an extremely difficult decision; however, we have an obligation to the entire membership to prudently manage funds and looking at what it would take to sustain operations and improve the situation down at the stables. It’s just too overwhelming for our budget.”
Added Horn, “We had to balance the good feelings and the good stuff that Wildwood brings to us as an amenity and on the other side of it is our responsibility to the entire community to be fiscally responsible.”
He continued, “The realities were and are that the extensive investment in capital and operating funds to get us where it was a viable entity without undue burden on the rest of the community as subsidies would take us several years. That’s a reality. And it’s not a burden that I felt was in the best interest to the community at large.”
There was unanimous approval by the board for Horn’s motion.
I wish there were a way for us to have this as I was really for it as well and I couldn’t find a way to get us there,” Horn added. “And it’s my responsibility to that as the treasurer that we have to be fiscally responsible to the entire community.”
The board formed the Wildwood Stables committee in April to complete more than 3,000 hours of research regarding the stables and submit what they would recommend the board do with the stables that would be in the best interest of the Fairfield Glade Community Club.
The committee submitted its recommendation to the board mid-July.
“I know this is a disappointment to many people out in this audience and the people that worked on this committee should not back off one bit about the fine work that you did,” said Jones.
During the board’s workshop, six FGCC members came forward as a plea to ask the board to consider saving the stables.
Twenty-four of about 40 audience members stood up in support of the Wildwood Stables during the workshop.
During the board meeting, seven members came forward to voice their opinions, concerns and questions on the decision.
“Now we have three months to try and find something or are we all supposed to put our horses down?” asked one woman. “I’m not willing to put my horse down. How am I supposed to find a place where I can go visit my horse and take care of my horse and try to find a spot that I can drive to see my horse?”
A man said, “I have never been probably as angry as I am right now. “This is the most outrageous thing this board has ever done.”
The board made this decision based on financial reasons, Jones noted.
“What it got down to is, as I think you heard from other board members, certainly, in my opinion as well, it’s a financial decision. I think if it was an emotional or personal decision, we probably would have had a different answer but the capital infusion that we would have to put into there,” said Jones.
“When we looked at this, there is a large capital infusion,” said Jones. “On a good day, we were looking at 2026 before we could really be at a point where we could really have these stables operating in a way that we thought it would fit what we would consider to be a good amenity here at Fairfield Glade.”
Jones told the Glade Sun the day after the board meeting that the report of the committee’s recommendation for the future of the stables and the financial analysis that led to the board’s decision will be made available to the public.
He said the information is among about 85 documents involving the stables and that it could take a couple of weeks to sort through them to determine all of the information the board will release.
The Glade Sun will do a follow up once the documents have been released to the public regarding the financial decision.
Glade Sun correspondent Keith Robinson contributed to this report.