Letters to the Editor
International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) needs to be revoked
The Nye County Board of Commissioners met Nov. 4 to amend this code to read Nye County instead of the Pahrump Valley Planning Board, so that the IPMC could be enforced county-wide.
On October 28, 2025 there was a Town Hall meeting regarding the IPMC in which the resounding opinion of the community of Amargosa Valley was that this code should not be enforced in our town.
There were several concerns voiced at the Town Hall, such as: untrained personnel are inspecting properties; inspections by code officials are arbitrary (The code official shall have the authority to render interpretations of this code), complaint based and possibly unconstitutional; and it is government overreach.
In 2017 this code was presented to the town of Amargosa Valley at a town board meeting. At this presentation by John Koenig, we were assured that this would not affect Amargosa Valley, so the board passed it. Fast-forward eight years and IPMC is affecting Amargosa Valley and the whole of Nye County.
Currently, Nye County is only enforcing some of the code, the part they feel pertains to Nye County. There are eight chapters and 49 pages to the code.
This code basically tells you, the owner, what you may or may not do on your own property. An example is Chapter 3 302.8 Motor Vehicles reads, “Except as provided for in other regulations, inoperative or unlicensed motor vehicles shall not be parked, kept or stored on any premises, and vehicles shall not at any time be in a state of major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled. Painting of vehicles is prohibited unless conducted inside an approved spray booth. Exception: A vehicle of any type is permitted to undergo major overhaul, including body work, provided that such work is performed inside a structure or similarly enclosed area designed and approved for such purposes.”
This is just one area addressed by the code. Weeds, noxious weeds, rodents, home windows and doors and walkways are a few more areas. This code touches everything on your property, not just the things parked on your property. Although not all things in the code are being enforced now, who is to say at some point in the future they will be enforced, since it is part of the Nye County code.
We in Amargosa Valley do not want our neighbors, the county or anyone else dictating to us how we are to use our property and what we can do on our property.
This code has placed financial burdens on people by requiring that they erect privacy fences, remove vehicles and whatever the inspector considers junk, at their own expense, or face fines.
There has also been an individual in Amargosa Valley given a year of jail time for refusing to comply with the IPMC, making it a criminal offense. Failure to comply with this code could lead to the loss of your property to Nye County.
The Board of Nye County Commissioners need to revoke this code. As with anything else in our country who you vote for matters, look carefully at how your commissioner votes.
The Board of Nye County Commissioners will revisit this issue in March.
Brenda Dymond
