By Mitra Malek
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WELLINGTON —
This time, a new group has formed to make sure a huge dressage event that producers of the Winter Equestrian Festival had nearly cinched under previous Wellington leadership continues despite perceived resistance from current leadership.
The tug-of-war that erupted in the village’s equestrian community early this year has ratcheted up a notch.
“The hostility of Wellington’s government towards the new dressage venue … has become known globally,” reads a petition from the Equestrian Forum, as the group is known.
“People aren’t believing it’s going to happen,” said committee member Terri Kane, an equestrian farm owner.
“We ask that the council take immediate action to ensure there is an equestrian season at the new derby and dressage venue,” the petition reads.
That action, they said, needs to happen during the Aug. 14 council meeting.
The back story: the village council in May and July revoked approvals the previous council had granted related to the event because the producers, headed by Mark Bellissimo and Michael Stone, had missed a platting deadline and not formally asked for an extension.
But the show can go on. Producers can apply for special use permits.
“This isn’t a crisis,” said jewelry store owner Jack Van Dell, who has been in Wellington for 30 years. “This is not the end of the world.”
That launched a shouting match, though not the only one Tuesday.
“I personally feel betrayed,” said rider Carol Cohen. “I’m angry. I’m upset.”
Cohen, along with a very vocal handful of the 75 or so people who attended the Equestrian Forum’s inaugural meeting, were in near-panic mode.
Riders need to firm their plans in August, and the steering committee fears the special-permitting process could take months.
Kane, along with Jack Mancini, Gaye Scarpa and Kathy Mailloux, formed the group last week, they said. The steering committee includes one more member who wants to remain anonymous, said committee member Jack Mancini, an equestrian photographer.
“We are not aligned with any entity,” Mancini said.
Mayor Bob Margolis and councilmen John Greene and Matt Willhite were at the meeting. The Equestrian Forum in its literature lampooned the three newly elected men for their revocation votes on the Equestrian Village project, which would have housed the dressage festival.
Greene after the meeting Tuesday said consideration for a special-use permit could certainly be on the Aug. 14 agenda.
“I’m not concerned with every ‘i’ being dotted and every ‘t’ being crossed,” Green said. “We are not going to kill dressage.”
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