RESEDA : Petting Zoo Owner Sues to Halt Closure

The owner of a Reseda pony ride and petting zoo has filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from closing her business, an attorney for the farm said Wednesday.

The suit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, means that city attorneys will most likely postpone any action to close down The Farm on Tampa Avenue, which has been denied permission to operate by the City Council last month.

Linda Menary, owner of The Farm, has been fighting neighborhood opposition to her business for several years. The business, located on about 1 1/2 acres, is flanked on two sides by single-family houses. It is home to dozens of chickens, ponies, goats and other animals.

Neighbors say that the place smells, and that escaping animals are a nuisance.

The future of the business was put in doubt last month when the City Council rejected Menary’s final appeal for a land-use permit. While the case was still wending its way through the city zoning process, Menary was allowed to continue operating in accordance with the terms of an earlier plea negotiation.

The city did not move in immediately to close The Farm down after the council’s decision.

On Wednesday, at a progress report hearing in Los Angeles Municipal Court before Commissioner Mitchell Block, Menary’s attorney, Harold Kippen, argued that until Menary’s lawsuit is settled in court, she should be allowed to continue operating without a permit.

Richard A. Schmidt, deputy city attorney, said that although the matter is still under review, the city is not likely to challenge Menary’s right to continue operating her business while the case is being adjudicated.

The lawsuit, a writ of administrative mandamus, has not yet been scheduled for a hearing, Schmidt said. Kippen said the writ challenges the City Council’s denial of a conditional-use permit for Menary.

Meanwhile, Menary was working as usual at her farm on Wednesday.

“Nothing has really changed here,” she said. “I still think the city has been terribly unfair. All the big businesses are running out. Now they are chasing out all the little ones too.”