County code keeps Overton woman stuck in motor home

OVERTON — Bonnie McGrew has lived on the same plot of Moapa Valley land since 1990. She has six dogs and a modest double-wide mobile home there.

But the double-wide, hooked up to utilities, sits empty when night falls. She leaves it to sleep in a motor home parked in her yard.

McGrew sought a simple, trouble-free life on a 2.4-acre tract of land when she moved to the town of Overton in 1990. Now, plans she made last year to spruce up the double-wide are on hold.

Clark County officials in August 2014 told her she needs a drainage study of her property completed before she can reside in the double-wide that sits on the same land where two mobile homes used to be. But McGrew can't afford a drainage study, which would require hiring an engineering firm, costing at least $12,500. So she is forced to live alone in the 25-foot motor home — with no solution in sight that she can afford.

For her predicament to improve, McGrew would need either a different approach from the county or help from a lender. But a county spokesman said county code requires a drainage study. And a loan just isn't going to happen. Absent a change, she is stuck in the motor home.

"I will be homeless," McGrew said.

She has turned to County Commissioner Tom Collins in hopes he can help fix the problem.

Collins said the county needs to be more reasonable.

"In this case, I strongly believe that Clark County went over the top on everything that they could throw at this poor woman, and if the county wins, she's just going to be homeless," Collins said. "She will be homeless if the county pursues every single thing that they're trying to do, most of which is not necessary."

Efforts to improve

It started with a February 2014 complaint about her dogs — someone turned her in alleging she had 11 puppies — she has only six dogs.

An 8-foot breezeway connected her two mobile homes, where McGrew was doing repair and roofing work. Part of the roof was torn down to do repairs, and the county complained about debris, calling it an "unsafe structure."

So McGrew went about the task of trying to replace it after animal control turned the matter over to code enforcement.

She thought her fortunes turned after she bought a secondhand double-wide mobile for her home, then submitted plans to the county in May 2014. But she said she wasn't told at the time she needed a drainage study. After her new home was parked along the road near her land, the county ordered her to move it.

With no other place to put the double-wide, McGrew placed it on her property and removed her old mobile homes while awaiting for her permit paperwork. It wasn't until August 2014 when a county public works staffer emailed her, saying that she needed to do a drainage study for her permit because the land is on a flood plain.

McGrew doesn't understand why the county insists on a drainage study, noting the double-wide sits in the same spot as her former residence did for decades.

"I don't get it," she said. "I just don't get it."

She also expressed frustration that the county waited months after she submitted her application to tell her she needed a drainage study. While she waited for her permit to come through, the county pushed for the removal of her two mobile homes.

"It just burns me," she said.

County spokesman Dan Kulin said county code requires compliance with Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines for homes in flood zones.

"One of the requirements is a drainage study, which would tell the property owner how high off the ground a home must be in order to better protect the structure and its occupants during a 100-year flood," Kulin said in a statement. He said the original mobile homes didn't have the required permits.

As for the lag in notifying her of the need for a drainage study, Kulin said it's simply because of limited staffing, which dropped after layoffs during the recession.

The area has been hit by flooding before, including in 2014.

McGrew also got turned down by her bank for a loan for the drainage study because she doesn't have a permit.

Complete standstill

These days, McGrew enters her double-wide during the day to use the bathroom and prepare meals. But each night, she sleeps in her nearby motor home because she can't legally sleep in the double-wide.

She cannot simply return her property to the way it was because the other two mobile homes are gone.

She wants to improve her new home with floor tiles and a porch. Sheetrock for remodeling is stored at the construction company where she works.

For now, McGrew has to hold off.

"I just am not doing anything," she said. "I am at a complete standstill."

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.