Bear Creek Stables, a horse boarding facility that was recently at the center of a criminal animal-cruelty case, is now being probed by the County for possible code violations.
But in an interview with the Los Gatan this week, the property owner, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen), denied there was an ongoing investigation.
The Santa Clara County Department of Planning and Development started looking into the 19100 Bear Creek Rd. property on July 8, according to an email obtained by the Los Gatan.
Friends of Bear Creek Stables, the new nonprofit operator (aka “concessionaire”) of the location, made a splash earlier this year when it announced the location would be reopening to the public. Public programs were stopped around the time the prior manager, Chaparral Country Corporation, was prosecuted for animal cruelty.
However, an official complaint contends Midpen, a public agency, isn’t even allowed to offer new public programming at Bear Creek Stables, because it hasn’t conducted needed upgrades and remains out of compliance with regulations.
On July 28, Code Enforcement Program Manager Darrell Revier and MaryEllen Luna, who (per the County) has “extensive equine experience,” visited the property to check if there were any immediate threats to public health or safety. They didn’t find any.
“Mid-Peninsula Staff accompanied us and confirmed that although there is a new concessionaire currently overseeing the property, they are not currently open to the public for programming,” Revier wrote in a July 30 email to geographer Caitlin Dempsey, the complainant. “I made it clear to the Mid-Peninsula staff that they must comply with all County and State laws related to the operation of the stables prior to resuming public programming.”
Earlier this year, Friends of Bear Creek Stables—buoyed by more than $250,000 in fresh funding (including from Netflix)—told the Los Gatan that the public would be able to return as soon as May (the article was even titled “Bear Creek Stables opening to the public this spring.”)
Bear Creek Stables was shuttered in 2024 as the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office cracked down on Chaparral. Company official Jennifer Bryant was charged with failing to give proper care and attention to an animal. The case was suspended last year, pending a diversion hearing. It’s no longer visible in the public filing system.
County enforcers plan to meet with Midpen staff in the near future to investigate the less time-sensitive code-related accusations. Revier wrote that they were able to verify an illegal trailer used as staff housing by Chaparral had been removed, “—so that complaint has been closed out.”
But Dempsey says that was just one of Midpen’s infractions. She’s launched a website (bearcreekstables.org) to document the restrictions under which Bear Creek Stables operates, as well as Midpen’s inability to secure County approval for their development plans.
This includes a Nov. 14, 2000 letter from zoning administrator Michael M. Lopez to then-manager Glenda J. Smith confirming the stables’ “legal non-conforming” status. It notes in the 1940s the land was owned by the Catholic Novitiate of Los Gatos (which was already raising and breeding horses) with 15 acres leased to Lester Porter and his wife in 1969—and that it’s been in continuous operation ever since. A sign on the property says Bear Creek Stables has been around since the ‘30s. Before that, it was part of the Dr. Harry Tevis estate.
The land started out as “A Exclusive Agriculture,” which allowed stables by right. When the zoning changed in 1975, that “did not impact uses that had already been legally established,” the letter reads. Lopez said the stable could continue operating without a use permit, but with a 72-horse maximum, provided there’s no “expansion or intensification” without a use permit.
However, the March 26, 2025 special Midpen meeting includes a recommendation to “Review and provide feedback on the proposed milestones and framework for entering into a long-term agreement with the Friends of Bear Creek Stables to operate horse boarding at Bear Creek Stables and provide nature education, equine interaction, and stewardship programming to the broader public.”
(Faizi Samadani / Los Gatan)
The agenda also states the board-approved Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve Plan features this as a primary goal: “Maximize public benefits of Bear Creek Stables by broadening public access and use of the facility, consistent with the lease agreement.”
On Sept. 24, 2018, Midpen asked the County for clarification on how it might conduct what it called “basic” repairs, without triggering the need for a use permit. The letter included a list of potential improvements.
The County replied—among other things—that a building permit is a must for each structure being fixed, that a new wastewater system would be required, and that the fire department would demand a minimum access width of 20 feet and a maximum slope of 16% within 150 feet of all portions of the proposed buildings. County staff also pointed to the need for grading permits.
In a June email obtained by the newspaper, a County planner confirms that public riding lessons, horse camps, school classes, camps and retreats generally require a use permit in the hillside district.
On Monday, Leigh Ann M. Gessner, a Midpen public affairs specialist, said that Bear Creek Stables’ grandfathered status means it can restart at least some activities at the site.
“The public programming went on hold under Chaparral, when they were managing the stables, because of insurance reasons,” she said. “There’s nothing precluding public programming happening again.”
She attempted to deflect a question about the current investigation.
“I am not aware of any official investigation going on,” she said, adding she had inquired about this with another Midpen staffer.
When the Los Gatan provided the case number, she said it was just a “public inquiry” that had already been finalized.
“There’s no further action happening,” she said. “There’s no further action required.”
However, in a Monday afternoon email to the Los Gatan, County Planning and Development Director Jacqueline Onciano said there are multiple complaints they’re following up on. In addition, Midpen’s Use Permit and Architectural Site Approval application for Bear Creek Stables from 2021 was recently found to still need more work, she added.
“Given the complaints that are under investigation, along with the incomplete status of the UP/ASA, we are working to schedule a meeting with Midpen to understand their plans for the stables and how they wish to proceed with the UP/ASA application,” she said.
Onciano added Tuesday her department was in direct contact with Midpen officials Susanna Chan and Brian Malone about the matters.
Spotty environmental record
Bear Creek Stable’s ecological record has been less than stellar.
On Dec. 17, 2019, Midpen was hit with a “Notice of Violation” for illegal discharges to the watershed. Garik Iosilevsky, a management analyst with the County’s Clean Water Program, told Michael Jurich that non-stormwater outflows were beyond what’s allowed under the County Discharge Prohibition. “Drainages in your locality run directly to local waterways and ultimately to San Francisco Bay, and are not filtered or treated by the storm drain system,” he wrote (underline in original). “When sediment is released into the environment it can be toxic to fish and wildlife.”
Midpen’s Gessner said she was unaware of this incident.
And on Feb. 23, 2023, Omar Smith, a senior property management specialist with Midpen, told the manager prior to Chaparral, Pamela Ashford, he’d discovered “several instances of unsanitary and unsafe conditions in the stable lease premises, including large piles of manure and debris,” earlier that month.
“The unauthorized manure piles are not located in the designated manure program area,” he said. “The piles have no containment to prevent spreading into the watershed and none of the observed piles are covered to prevent run-off. These uncontained and uncovered piles create a potential health and safety hazard for the surrounding preserve and boarders at the stables.”
The Midpen spokesperson said this is an example of the agency’s oversight actually serving to protect the environment, adding the organization also recently cleaned up old fuel tanks found buried on the site.
Animal cruelty case
An official audit released in January shed more light on the death of a horse that was stabled at Bear Creek Stables under the prior owner.
It notes that Chaparral had already been under the microscope for months for potential animal mistreatment by the time officers turned their attention to Bear Creek Stables in March 2024.
“Nine days after the investigation began, Field Services received an email that all horses had been moved to another location and the case was closed ‘since the horses are no longer there and both horses of concern are under veterinary treatment,’ according to the activity report,” per the audit.
On July 12, 2024, Honey the horse, which had been living at Bear Creek Stables, was found in Milpitas in such bad shape it had to be euthanized that same day.
The Los Gatan asked Midpen why the horses were removed from the Los Gatos site in the midst of an animal control investigation.
“Chaparral was shuffling their personal horses around,” Gessner said. “We mutually parted ways.”
She declined to say if Midpen took any steps to check on the health of any of the other expelled horses.
A new chapter
Gessner said that Midpen is excited about Friends of Bear Creek Stables taking over the management of the stables.
Their contract requires them to serve “at least 1,500 individuals through programs at the Stables or in the Preserve” and “offer opportunities for diverse and underserved community residents to experience equestrian activities.”
Midpen is focused on bringing the facility up to modern codes and aligning public access with environmental protection, Gessner said.
“This new relationship with the Friends of Bear Creek Stables nonprofit is a new path forward and a new model for keeping these stables operating,” she said. “There’s not an intensification of site use. The public programming has been paused for a while, and it will be restarting.”
