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"I'll continue to do what I can to find another location," stable owner Lyle Yost told commissioners via telephone from Colorado.

The Planning Commission voted 7-0 to reject a conditional-use permit that would allow 40 horses to be stabled on 3.6 acres at 9990 Mendenhall Loop Road. But the commission did approve a conditional use permit to allow 37 horses at 5500 Montana Creek Road, the current home of Yost's business, Montana Creek Tours.

The Mendenhall Loop Road property was the best alternative site Yost could find, he explained.

While the vote was disappointing to Yost, residents of the Blueberry Acres neighborhood left the meeting smiling. John Etheridge was one of three residents who came to speak against the proposal, saying the operation would be in his backyard. Most of the complaints related to manure.

Monique Wheeler of the Community Development Department discussed the potential volume of manure, and said staff recommended weekly removal from the site. The Blueberry Acres neighbors said that wouldn't be frequent enough.

"I think they should have to remove it every day," Roxanne Stewart said.

Wheeler said the proposal was projected to decrease property values of homes in the area, but she could not be specific.

"I'm just very concerned about a commercial operation moving into my neighborhood with 40 horses and all the flies they'll attract," said Blueberry Acres resident Al Culbreath.

Stewart was concerned about other insects.

"We already have a mosquito problem," she said, bringing up the potential for disease.

"Horses can be carriers of West Nile disease," she said. "I just don't want to see this kind of activity in the neighborhood if it can be avoided."

She added that local residents should be able to use Montana Creek Road more without having to share it with horse and bicycle tours.

Juneau resident Garry Baysinger, who said he lives near the treatment plant, told commissioners he would rather live near horses. He spoke in favor of Yost's Mendenhall Loop proposal, saying the $50 per ride cost of Montana Creek Tours was worth the price for him, his wife and grandchildren.

"Unless you own a horse here, you can't ride here," Baysinger said.

Commissioner Marshal Kend-zirek noted that the Montana Creek Road conditional-use permit change wouldn't increase the number of horses on the site because Yost has been operating this year with 37 instead of the 25 permitted.

Etheridge said that should bring his Mendenhall Loop Road proposal into question.

"Who's to say he's not going to do it here?" he asked.

"I'm having trouble seeing 40 horses here," Commissioner Mark Pusich said before voting against it. "It's too dense."

Commissioner Dan Bruce said he couldn't get past the manure issue.

"I support the applicant's business, but I think that this is a bad location for 40 horses," he said.