A covered arena and other proposed improvements to the UC Davis Equestrian Center would not pose a significant threat to the environment, campus planners say in a draft report that is now available for public comment.

In fact, one of the project's elements — a new sewer system — actually would benefit the environment, said Sid England, director of environmental planning for the campus. The sewer system would collect and treat storm water that mixes with animal waste from horse stalls and pens. Today, this tainted water soaks into the ground or runs into the Arboretum Waterway.

Riders are eager to benefit from the project's other major component: a covered arena, something that the 25-acre center does not have now.

"We're really looking forward to getting it," said Holly Fox, the center's program manager. Without a covered arena, she said, lessons and training can be curtailed "when it's hot or wet or windy."

The improvement project takes the place of an earlier plan to move the Equestrian Center to a 60-acre site west of the central campus. That would have cost more than

$10 million, said Paul Schwartz, principal planner in the Office of Resource Management and Planning. Officials dropped the proposal last year in view of the state's financial woes.

The revised project carries an estimated cost of $4.4 million, Schwartz said.

Most of that would go to the planned 45,000-square-foot arena. It is priced at an estimated $3.2 million, Schwartz said, to be paid with student fees through the FACE Initiative of 1999. Students voted then to levy the fees for Facility and Campus Enhancement.

The sewer system and other drainage improvements are expected to cost about $1.2 million, to be paid with university funds, Schwartz said.

The Equestrian Center, established in 1962, is near the junction of Interstate 80 and Highway 113 at the southwest corner of the central campus. About 350 people use the center each academic quarter, and an estimated 80 percent of them — or 280 — are students, Fox said. In addition, about 200 youths take part in summer programs, she said.

The center is home to 110 horses, Fox said, half owned by students and half by the university. The center offers recreational riding lessons, and it is a base for club and competitive riding programs.

PA system included

The planners' draft report states that the arena is likely to be a prefabricated metal structure enclosed on two sides, with lighting, ventilation and a public address system. A map included with the report shows the arena at the west end of a five-acre grass riding area along the curve in the ramp that takes traffic from westbound I-80 to northbound Highway 113.

The report's hydrology and water quality section describes how the project would bring about "improved drainage and improved pollution controls."

Today, the report notes, there is "extensive ponding of storm water" at the Equestrian Center, which is on a flat site. The improvement project calls for a network of concrete curbing to channel more runoff to the Arboretum Waterway, which already collects storm water from the main campus.

The existing storm drainage system includes a safety valve to guard against flooding along the waterway: Excess water is pumped through an underground pipe to the South Fork of Putah Creek.

Second, the Equestrian Center report describes the proposed sewer system that would collect water from confined animal spaces — water with high nutrient levels.

Underground pipes would deliver this wastewater to a holding pond on the property's southeast corner. From there, a pump would push the water through a new pipeline connecting to an existing sewer line under Old Davis Road at the campus's south entrance. That line carries sewage to the university's wastewater treatment plant on the south side of I-80.

The draft report concludes that the project would not significantly affect fish or wildlife habitat, including land where the burrowing owl, Swainson's hawk and valley elderberry longhorn beetle have been known to live. The report notes that the Equestrian Center property is home to six elderberry shrubs, and that they would be preserved in place.

To minimize glare, the report states, the university will use textured, nonreflective exterior surfaces and nonreflective glass.

The $4.4 million project does not include one element of the university's overall improvement plan for the Equestrian Center: the replacement of existing facilities that

the draft report describes as being "in deteriorated condition." Eventually, the university aims to build horse pens to replace four existing pens covering about 15,000 square feet.

"The replacement of the horse pens will be phased in as a separate, parallel project," Schwartz said.

Public input sought

The environmental report is available for review on campus at the Office of Resource Management and Planning, 376 Mrak Hall, and in the reserves at Shields Library; and off campus at the Yolo County Library, 315 E. 14th St., Davis. The report also is available online, www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/

environreview (click on "Current Projects" and then look for Equestrian Center Improvements under E). Comments are due by 5 p.m. March 27. They should be directed to John Meyer, vice chancellor of Resource Management and Planning, UC Davis, One Shields Ave., 376 Mrak Hall, Davis 95616, or e-mailed

to environreview@ucdavis.edu.