When talking about the fate of Rancho Santa Fe’s Osuna Ranch, locals ittedly have a lot of opinions, ion and emotions.
The Rancho Santa Fe Association board held a special Osuna meeting on May 15, an opportunity for staff to report back with information on board member and committee usage proposals such as establishing a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for a portion or all of the property, subdivision and sale processes, ideas first pitched last month.
The agenda called for discussion only, not action. For now, the Osuna Committee will continue its efforts to enhance member usage of the property and the Association will work again toward a community survey, which was first proposed by staff about a year ago.
“I don’t think anyone wants to make any sort of rash judgment on this,” Director Scott Thurman said. “I don’t think there was a big rush to sell this place, it was just gathering information and trying to be good stewards of the Association’s assets, to add value for the entire community.”
The board room was full of people for the conversation that day, spilling out into the hallway. Many people were wearing Osuna Ranch-branded hats and pins from an energized Osuna Committee. The member input shared discouraged any sale of the property, from both long-time “Osuna super fans” and residents who had only recently discovered the ranch and visited for the first time by invitation of the committee.
“I know when people drive by Osuna Ranch they feel connected to the horses and the pasture. It’s a glimpse into the past and a dose of peace that I hope offsets the energy of the commuter traffic speeding through,” read a letter from resident Jeneva Bell. “I think whoever helped make the decision to purchase Osuna understood that we need these open spaces to preserve the Ranch and feel what the Ranch community is all about.”
Two of the five board , Vice President Jeff Simmons and Skip Atkins, stated for the record that they would not a sale. The board’s overall goal remained to determine the best path forward for the ranch, trying to get to a solution that will benefit the broader community.
Purchased by the Association almost 20 years ago, the 25-acre Osuna Ranch is home to a historic adobe and an equestrian facility on Via de Santa Fe. For years the ranch has been operating on a minimal budget—currently it has $435,000 in reserves and is ending the fiscal year with a small excess of revenues over expenditures.
“Although Osuna revenues generally exceed expenditures on an annual basis, it does not have sufficient financial reserves to appropriately address new capital projects or emergencies if they were to arise,” said Association Assistant Manager Brian Bosse.
At the request of the Osuna committee, Bosse shared some of the complex process of establishing a 501(c)(3) to manage and operate the property and allow for tax-deductible gifts for the care and preservation of the adobe. To qualify as a 501(c)(3), the ranch’s purpose must serve the general public. If all or a portion of the ranch is opened up to the general public, it would trigger some work to address deficiencies with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access. The board would also need to appoint a 501(c)(3)board and its own staff with a clear separation from the Association board and staff, Bosse said.
The Osuna Committee’s chair Lorraine Kent shared that there are “endless opportunities” to energize the property, to create a gathering space for families with equestrian, educational, agricultural and culinary events and programming. One idea the committee has proposed is establishing an Osuna Ranch Club, a dues-driven organization like the tennis and golf clubs.
“We want to gather together and learn about our community roots…we want to ride together…we want to grow and engage with the land and celebrate our agricultural heritage,” Kent said.
Kent said that the committee was clear that they did not want to let go of the legacy that the beautiful 25 acres represents to the community, in its entirety.
of the Osuna Committee and Osuna ers have been working to raise awareness about the ranch over the last month with a “Save the Osuna Ranch” campaign. During member input, many shared concerns and opposition to the proposal of a lot split and sale. Most speakers did not want the board to make any decision that day and advised them to wait until the three new board are seated next month.
“While handing out flyers on the Osuna I heard repeating misinformation that the Osuna Ranch is in disrepair, is a burden to maintain and only benefits a few horse owners. None of this is true,” said longtime resident Holly Manion said. “ I do not own a horse yet I regularly enjoy Osuna, hosting picnics, meetings, walking with my dog and friends, and taking clients there.”
As Bosse reminded , Osuna Ranch is open for visitors Tuesday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to an hour before sunset.
The Rancho Santa Fe School District board has also become a part of the conversation about better utilizing the Osuna, advocating for open space for structured and unstructured learning for the community’s children. During the district’s recent efforts to establish a new mission and vision, board member Annette Ross said they learned students wanted more opportunities to be outside of the classroom.
“What they said was ‘It’s not that we want to go some place far or fancy, we just want to take little adventures.’ I thought of Osuna,” Ross said. “We hear from parents and students more and more that children feel alone and isolated….I think we begin to solve that problem by teaching students about where they live so they feel connected to this beautiful place, its history so they will eventually, hopefully, feel like they belong.”
During his comments, Director David Gamboa said he was still most concerned about the property’s zoning and how they could get the ranch’s neighbors’ buy-in for having enhanced uses like more social gatherings, events and commercial-type activities on the property.
“Zoning is going to be the issue,” Gamboa said. “We have to make sure whatever comes out of this, it gets blessed by the people who are immediately around it.”
The land is currently zoned as use class A and L with allowances for residential and commercial housekeeping facilities. If Osuna were to be used as a park, open space, natural park or museum or any other use, a Covenant zoning modification would be required to add those uses. Additionally, the major use permit is for an equestrian center and any changes to the use would require a new major use permit from the county.
The recent attempt to pursue a dog park at the Osuna and reclassify the property to use class H for semi-public uses was unsuccessful. The zoning modification failed as only six of 37 surrounding property owners provided consent, the 14% approval secured falling short of the 66% that is required to proceed.
The Association could try for another zoning modification in a year and Simmons said they could possibly try with a more narrow scope, one that deeded out other class H allowances such as a fire station, a golf course and a public or private school.
As Gamboa said, the board is still “in the river” trying to solve an issue that is approaching two decades in the making. “What I want to do is what’s the best for all of us,” he said. “I want to do what the family wants, but I want to do it legally and wisely.”
During his last three years on the board, Treasurer Phil Trubey has raised a lot of questions about the Osuna’s use, whether assessment dollars should be spent to improve the equestrian facilities, and he most recently pitched the idea of splitting off five acres to preserve the adobe and selling the remaining 20 acres. With less than 45 days left in his term and given the complexity of those options, he said he is now back to the idea of a community survey.
Fellow outgoing board member Thurman agreed that the Association should explore an advisory vote after more information is made available for residents. Thurman has also seen the evolution of the Osuna conversation during the last three years—they are at a point now where there has perhaps never been more interest and energy around what can be done with the property.
“It’s worth the conversation,” Thurman said. “And it’s also worth having the advocates here for Osuna, to tell us what their vision is and how this could be done in a thoughtful way where we feel like we’re adding value to all the family.”
