Owner of Sagebrush Ranch wins stay of judge’s order

David Clayton

Monday, Oct. 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Jacque Fitzgerald is back in the saddle again, if only temporarily.

The owner of the Sagebrush Ranch in northwest Las Vegas may continue with her horse camps and trail rides until at least Oct. 29 without fear of being held in contempt of court.

At the request of George Ogilvie, Fitzgerald's attorney, a Sept. 19 court order restricting Sagebrush to the boarding of horses has been stayed.

District Judge Nancy Becker agreed to stay her order until after a new hearing Oct. 29.

"The enforcement and effectiveness of Judge Becker's order has been stayed (until the hearing)," Ogilvie said. "The county may still cite her, but she cannot now be held in contempt."

Clark County attorneys had threatened to bring contempt charges against Fitzgerald if she continued with her businesses activities, which include riding lessons involving about 50 horses and dozens of children. The county's position is that the livery license held by the ranch allows eight horses to be boarded -- period.

"When Judge Becker found out that they had threatened contempt, she reacted quite strongly," Ogilvie said.

For the past three years, neighbors have launched unremitting broadsides at the Sagebrush Ranch. Complaining the loudest are Mike and Debra Stephens, whose home borders the eastern side of the two-acre ranch at West Verde Way, just west of Durango Drive at Lone Mountain Road.

The Stephenses and other neighbors have lodged formal complaints with Clark County, claiming that Fitzgerald has no license to run a horse academy featuring riding lessons, trail rides, campfire nights and birthday parties for dozens of children almost on a daily basis. They say she has no right to have more than eight horses on her property at any one time, when, in fact, Fitzgerald boards at least 20 horses there and frequently moves an additional 25 or more horses onto the ranch from nearby lots, which she leases.

Neighbors say horse manure on the ranch is allowed to accumulate, creating health hazards. They also say the children are noisy and out of control.

County code enforcement officers and the district attorney's office side with the neighbors. Numerous citations against the ranch, however, have been largely ignored by Fitzgerald, who maintains that her ranch is no more of a health hazard than any horse property and that her livery license gives her the right to conduct her businesses.

Fitzgerald says the Stephenses and other complaining neighbors should not have moved into horse country if they wanted an urban lifestyle. The Stephenses counter that they wouldn't mind a horse property that followed the county's codes and ordinances.

Becker's order has its origins in a June 19 County Commission zoning meeting, at which a 3-0 vote shot down Fitzgerald's request for a use permit and variances that would have authorized the various operations at Sagebrush Ranch.

After the vote, Ogilvie filed a motion in District Court, arguing that the seven-member commission did not have a quorum and that Fitzgerald did not get a fair hearing.

In Becker's Sept. 19 order, she ruled that there was a quorum and that Fitzgerald got a fair hearing. Furthermore, she ruled, "The livery license held by Sagebrush Ranch does not permit the the present business operation of renting horses to conduct trail rides and the equestrian training school."

Ogilvie, however, requested another hearing because he says that point was not part of his motion and was never argued.