Monday, April 22, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
KEN MCCALL is a Las Vegas SUN columnist. His column runs Mondays and Fridays. He can be reached at 259-4095 or [email protected]
THE KIEL RANCH has survived 140 years of battering desert winds and soaring Mojave heat.
It's survived a devastating succession of bulldozers and development deals and fires.
True, most of the once-prosperous and sprawling ranch has been sold off and paved over. The long colonnade of stately shade trees that led to the ranch house was yanked out a few years ago for a warehouse complex. Most of the buildings have been destroyed by earthmovers or neglect.
But the five-acre core of the valley's second-oldest historical site has, over the decades, survived the slings and arrows of Las Vegas fortune.
Last week, however, the Kiel Ranch faced something it may not survive: the North Las Vegas City Council.
Despite the pleadings of ranch supporters, the council, on a 3-2 vote, rejected the preservation plan of its appointed advisory body and told staff to figure out how to lease or sell the remnant of the ranch to the highest bidder. And while they're at it, the staff is supposed to package a deal so the buyer will restore the circa-1856 adobe and rebuild the main ranch building.
The decision dismayed and outraged many who believe any such deal will lead to the ultimate destruction of the ranch.
One of the most dismayed is Mayor James Seastrand, who with Councilman William Robinson voted against the motion.
"To me," said the mayor, "the ranch was more than a house. It was a ranch where crops were raised and nature was. ... This is where the Mormons taught the Indians how to farm."
Seastrand argued for preserving the whole five acres, restoring walking trails and the ranch pond, as well as the buildings, for a local park.
While some council members argued that the site is isolated in the middle of an industrial area, Seastrand pointed out that just across Commerce Street the zoning turns residential. "It could tie in very well," he said.
But the arguments fell on deaf ears of the council majority.
Among them was Councilman John Rhodes, who moved to scrap the advisory committee's plan.
While Rhodes called the committee's proposal "novel," he said it didn't add up "from a business perspective."
"I wanted a program that would be self-sustaining," Rhodes said. "But no numbers were brought to me. ... I didn't see anything in writing."
Besides that, Rhodes just doesn't think folks will be interested in a historical park -- especially set where it is.
"How many people are going to come in a warehouse district with large trucks and bring their kids?" he asked.
"I just don't see that happening, people coming to visit. It wasn't good zoning for a park."
That logic, however, really burns up ranch supporters.
If the site is mostly surrounded by industrial development, said Jim Hinds, longtime member of the Preservation Association of Clark County, that's because the council sold off most of the park.
"They, themselves, were responsible for that," said the former curator of the Old Mormon Fort in Las Vegas.
The root of the problem, Hinds said, is the council's penurious refusal to spend a dime on the park -- not even what it would pay for the upkeep of any other park or green space.
"There are virtually no historical parks anywhere that are totally self-sustaining," Hinds said. "This unrealistic vision really blighted and doomed this thing from the start."
Hinds, along with others, thinks the council's requirement that any new property owner preserve the ranch is merely a "face-saving" gambit.
Who, they want to know, is going to monitor the preservation once it's private property?
"Certainly not North Las Vegas, who hasn't monitored anything even when they owned it," Hinds said.
Many also want to know what will happen to the more than $800,000 that is promised for preservation of the remaining site.
While some of the money came from the sale of 22 acres of the ranch, they point out much of it came from federal and state grants for historical preservation. They question the legality -- or at least the ethics -- of the council now trying to pocket the money.
"I think it should be given back to the federal government," said advisory committee member Pat Harris. "They can give it to somebody who's sincere in what they promise to preserve."
Harris, a 23-year city resident, said the council is "just not listening" to its citizens and residents from across the valley.
"It's a tragedy, really for the whole valley, not just North Las Vegas," Hinds said in agreement.
"We'll all have a lot less of our history here if the Kiel Ranch disappears completely."
Some suggested the city could make do with a commemorative plaque. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, said Seastrand, who was still steamed two days after the decision.
The mayor acidly proposed wording for the council's legacy:
"Buried under this parking lot is a nice ranch that was the beginnings of North Las Vegas."
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