Residents learn more at Zombie Lots 101

The Private Well Owners Association’s monthly meeting saw several new faces this week as residents turned out to learn more about unbuildable parcels in the valley during “Zombie Lots 101,” a guest presentation provided by Patricia Robb.

Robb is the head spokesperson for an informal coalition called Pahrump Vacant Landowners Group and she’s striving to find a path forward for the thousands of Pahrump zombie lot property owners. As it stands today, these lots cannot have homes constructed on them because they are not large enough — most between 0.25 and 0.5 acres — to support a domestic well and septic system and they are either not located within a utility tariff zone or are simply too far away from existing lines to viably connect to utility services.

Jackie Walker, secretary for the well owners’ association, introduced Robb during the group’s Wednesday, July 2 meeting, while noting that the association was neither endorsing nor opposing the presented information.

Robb is a former Realtor and land investor and as such, she has had experience in the land buying-and-selling sector. She came with an array of information to hand out, starting with an article that appeared in the Pahrump Valley Times in 2015 by C.G. Wright of the Pahrump Museum.

That article details how zombie lots came to be, with the Rosen brothers forming Preferred Equities Corporation and buying up 10,000 acres of Pahrump land in the 1970s. The brothers then had the land mapped out into subdivision lots, with marked streets and promises of coming infrastructure to support them. For many, that infrastructure never materialized.

“A zombie lot is a small, legally recorded parcel that’s considered unusable under today’s rules,” information provided by Robb detailed. “They are taxed and sold like normal land but owners find they cannot build or live on them. The name reflects how these lots are technically ‘alive’ on paper but ‘dead’ in practical use.”

In fact, many property owners become so frustrated with the situation that they sell off their zombie lots to another buyer or else allow them to be seized by the county for delinquent taxes, after which the county can auction them off under “as is” condition.

“Whoever buys it at the tax auction is not forewarned or given a disclosure — that Realtors and investors should be giving — that by the way, this lot that is coming up for bid right now is unbuildable,” Robb asserted. “So, this has got to stop. It’s not fair to all these people.”

What is the answer, then?

“It’s a zoning issue… It’s an infrastructure problem also because the infrastructure is not there but the zoning says it must be there. So how can somebody build on their lot when the zoning says it has to be there?” Robb questioned. “The county commissioners have the right to change the zoning if they decide to do so on their own. It doesn’t have to be an individual request… (which) is going to cost you $1,265 and there is no guarantee on that.”

She is proposing a change in zoning to include a new off-grid type called “Super Conservation Lots.” Using alternatives such as rainwater catchment, hauled in potable water, atmospheric air-to-water generators, composting or incinerator toilets, solar and wind power, etcetera, Super Conservation Lot zoning could allow for the zombie lots to become usable in the future.

“We’re in the year 2025 — we’re not stuck in the 1960s,” Robb remarked as she touched on these technologies.

As for Nye County’s perspective on the matter, officials have repeatedly stated that rezoning is not a solution, though they assured that they are addressing the zombie lot problem.

Commissioner Ron Boskovich has offered to talk to affected landowners about potential solutions, although he did acknowledge that he isn’t sure what that solution might be. Commissioner Bruce Jabbour added that he had been discussing the problem with a few residents but was immediately put off when the idea of a lawsuit against the county was raised.

Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi has stated that he is reviewing the situation as well.

“Rezoning is not going to be the answer to this. These zombie lots can only be developed if they have utilities and the county is not responsible for utilities. They’re not in a utility district, they would have to be annexed in, there are a lot of issues here,” Kunzi said. “No one in the county is trying to ignore this, we are trying to figure out ways that we might be able to do some things. But I think the perception of the public is that we’re not looking at this and nothing could be farther from the truth.

“We do understand the frustration,” Kunzi continued. “We’ve all been victimized here by Preferred Equities… There are a lot of issues that we unfortunately wrestle with because of the ‘swampland’ sales that were being done by the original developer of this valley. But I want to reassure the public, we are not ignoring it. We’re trying to look at things, we’re trying to be creative and it’s going to take some time and some potential legal actions.”

Anyone interested in learning more about Pahrump Vacant Landowners Group is encouraged to join its Facebook page. Robb can be reached at PahrumpVacantLandownersGroup@gmail.com