Pahrump Residents Pay Taxes on Unusable Zombie Lots, Meeting Planned

Carol Milki purchased land in Pahrump more than 40 years ago with one goal: to retire there. She still cannot place a single structure on it.

Milki is one of dozens of property owners across Pahrump paying annual taxes on parcels they cannot legally develop, a predicament a newly formed coalition of landowners is calling the "Zombie Lot Crisis." By the coalition's count, the problem extends to thousands of small lots across Nye County, sitting in areas with no access to water or sewer infrastructure. Without those utilities, county rules prohibit any development.

"We have a problem out here that's kind of been a secret until it was exposed," said Patricia Robb, a local land-use advocate and former licensed Realtor who has pressed both Nye County commissioners and the Nye County Planning Department to address the issue.

Molly Valdez, a Las Vegas resident who purchased land in Pahrump a few years ago, said property owners have spent months proposing solutions at county commission meetings to no avail.

"It's a lot of run around; they send us to the state, the state sends us back to the county. It's like an endless loop of getting nowhere," Valdez said. "We bought it, we paid our hard-earned money, we pay taxes, and we're stuck."

Milki put the local paradox plainly: "There are just too many rules and regulations for an unincorporated city. It's unincorporated, and I see building happening in other places, or I hear about it, so why not us?"

The crisis has already sparked a public rally, and Robb traced the core obstacle to infrastructure economics.

"The infrastructure for water and sewer is exorbitantly way too expensive for anyone and exceeds the cost for building a home," she said.

The Private Well Owners Association, in a June 26 news release, described the scope as affecting "thousands of small-lot landowners in Nye County" who cannot develop their parcels, not even with a modest tiny home, because of outdated zoning laws and a county government it characterized as "unwilling to implement meaningful change." Many of the lots were sold decades ago, some before zoning reclassifications changed permissible uses. Residents say many of those vacant parcels continue appearing prominently in online real estate listings, raising disclosure concerns for buyers who may not realize they are purchasing property they cannot legally use or develop.

Nye County has not issued a public statement in response to the coalition's allegations.

Robb will present "Zombie Lots 101" at a free, open-to-the-public Private Well Owners Association meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 2, at the Pahrump Valley Museum, 401 E. Basin Ave. The session will cover how zombie lots occur through restrictive zoning and the absence of utilities, and what options affected landowners can pursue.