I could spit nails!
The County posted an “abatement notice” at a neighbor’s property and earlier today I called Edward Kulik, chief building honcho (no title on the MC website).
My neighbor is only out here occasionally because it’s too remote for his wife, but he enjoys the solitude. He built the house about 20 years ago, long before inspections. He got a permit and was told that he could build whatever he wanted. It’s not pretty, but that’s what it looked like when I moved here and I actually prefer the look of the old house to the new mobile home next door. I prefer “real” and off grid.
It expresses everything I love about the area: individuality, creativity, simplicity, sovereignty, independence.
That’s what I love about LMC and the Units out here.
So a few months ago my neighbor’s nightmare started after an anonymous complaint was received by the County about “open sewer pipes” (he collected rain water) and unsafe structures. One day his wife called me several times because she was so worried about him while he was out here for a few days and she thought he might die he was so stressed, couldn’t sleep, blood pressure 200 / 120, etc. They only have one car and she was a couple hours away.
They removed all the water pipes and stuff laying around, cleaned up the property, took down a shade structure over a camper and some other small structures.
One of the building guys recently told my neighbor he was “clear” — good to go. He was SO happy!
Then last week three guys from the building department including Ed Kulik showed up unannounced while he happened to be here. We are wondering whether his neighbor calls the building department every time my neighbor is out here. It’s too hot for him right now and it’s quite the coincidence that they met up with him. They told him that the building was unsafe, but didn’t elaborate.
My neighbor visited me later that day to tell me what happened and how upset he was, his blood pressure was 200 / 120 again and he’s just so stressed. He had NO idea what they wanted him to do and I suggested waiting for a more specific letter from the building department.
Yesterday I saw a county vehicle at his property and I ended up talking to George for quite a while. He was posting the abatement notice and since that’s all he does he didn’t have specific info either. He suggested that instead of calling my neighbor and giving him a heart attack, I might want to speak with Ed Kulik first to discuss specifics and work on a plan so the issues could be resolved and it wouldn’t be such devastating news.
This morning I spoke with Ed Kulik and my neighbor is so screwed.
While Mr. Kulik mentioned an unsafe entrance (you have to have lighting and a landing area and bla bla bla) and structural issues, they will not even tell my neighbor WHAT EXACTLY the problems are. According to Mr. Kulik, he needs to hire an architect or contractor to go through the house and bring it up to the International Property MAINTENANCE Code and then they’ll inspect it.
What exactly are my neighbor’s options?
Mr. Kulik said he had three options:
- Bring the building up to code.
- Remove the building.
- Do nothing and the County will take care of it.
The way I understand the process, the county sues and if the owner does not comply with the court order the county will pay for demolition and cleanup and attach a lien to the property. Of course the land is essentially worthless, which is why so many people don’t pay their property taxes on vacant lots around here.
I know someone who went through this in Seligman (Yavapai County), got sued and had to pay over $800 for the permit to demolish a cabin that had been on the property when they purchased it.
Is it time to report the many worthless and abandoned properties to the County so it can remove these mobile homes and vehicles?
I could report at least 20 properties with gutted mobiles and often old scrapped vehicles in my neighborhood. ALL of these abandoned mobiles fail to comply with the International Property Maintenance Code Many are owned by out of area estates and nobody wants these properties because nobody will ever BUY them and you can’t live in them.
Should we start the process of getting these properties into County ownership?
Create some work for them that doesn’t kill our residents?
What exactly ARE the County’s maintenance requirements?
George said yesterday that the International Property Maintenance Code requires heating and A/C. I questioned A/C and he added that the County requires it because it’s so hot here.
I know that Unisource routinely shuts off power for non payment during hot summers because people can’t pay their bills.
Is the County going to condemn every house that doesn’t have power? Where are these people supposed to go?
They don’t have the money to pay their power bills ….
When I mentioned to Mr. Kulik that my neighbor doesn’t even live in the house (he stays in a camper) he responded that there is a toilet in the house. I asked whether we could resolve the issue by removing the toilet, but no such luck.
The International Property Maintenance Code applies to ALL structures, everything that has 4 walls, such as pump houses, storage sheds, etc.
I forgot to ask whether these structures also had to have heating and A/C.
How many deaths and injuries have occurred in the last 200 years due to unsafe structures?
Mr. Kulik knew of NONE.
I knew two people who got hurt in mobile homes. One died in Meadview in a mobile home fire (inhaling the chemicals in the smoke) and the other lost the use of her hands in a Golden Valley mobile home fire.
If anything, mobile homes should be outlawed.
Mobile homes are death traps, yet our County has no problem allowing people to die.
Health Impacts of Fire Smoke Inhalation
Abstract
Most fatalities from fires are not due to burns, but are a result of inhalation of toxic gases produced during combustion. Fire produces a complex toxic environment involving flame, heat, oxygen depletion, smoke and toxic gases. As a wide variety of synthetic materials is used in buildings (insulation, furniture, carpeting, and decorative items) the potential for severe health impacts from inhalation of products of combustion during building fires is continuously increasing. …
So there is a REAL problem, people DIE, yet the County does NOTHING.
Lives are lost because people cannot afford to build real houses and they die in mobile home fires.
Synthetic materials are CONTINUALLY poisoning us. Of course the toxic gasses are less concentrated and we don’t die immediately, but we are affected and some people are now so allergic they have to “air out” books before they can read them.
I so regret that I built my house with fiberglass insulation, OSB and sheet rock. I’ve learned so much since I built, but if I had gone alternative, I’m sure they’d condemn my house too. Most “approved” materials are toxic. I’ll never understand why people LIKE the new car and new house stench. The smell of sickness.
As of 2008 the County required building inspections for construction, tremendously increasing the cost of owner built homes.
In the last 10 years I’m aware of exactly ONE new home construction in 3 square miles of residential lots (guessing about 1500 vacant acres) in Lake Mead City and Unit 6 and 7. And the only reason that one house is built is because the daughter and her husband are moving here to take care of her elderly parents. Maybe there’s another one on a road I never drive. Think about what this does to our economy!
Mr. Kulik also informed me that the BOS voted to adopt the International Property Maintenance Code and that he’s just following orders.
I’m emailing the link to this post to our supervisor Jean Bishop and I’m hoping we can work this out. Fortunately my neighbor didn’t have a heart attack when I called him and he wants to work WITH the County, but he is also ready to fight and take this to the media and maybe even look for an attorney.
The BOS has options:
The BOS could do as little as exempting all pre 2008 construction unless it is a safety hazard to OTHERS. A neighbor’s storage trailer on Peach lost a significant part of the metal roof and one wall during a dust devil in 2006. Fortunately, I was NOT painting my shed that afternoon because something hit the ladder I had been standing on 24 hours earlier and something hit and broke my brand new aluminum ladder. I’ve seen carports blown hundreds of feet from their original location. It’s an issue, but I can live with that. What can you do? It’s how it is, the wind is getting worse.
My preferred option is to follow the lead of Cochise County:
https://www.cochise.az.gov/development-services/owner-builder-amendment
Section 5 – Amendment Options.
Option 1: Full Construction Plan Review with Limited Building Code Inspection: This option when selected by the applicant during the permit issuance process requires (in addition to Zoning and other County Departments inspection requirements) that only Limited Building Code inspections dealing with the trade areas of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Prevention be completed by County Building Inspectors. Full Construction Plan Review and the required limited Inspections for this option will be completed in accordance with the adopted Cochise County Building Safety Code.
Option 2: No Construction Plan Review with No Building Code Inspection: This option, when selected by the applicant during the permit issuance process requires (in addition to Zoning and other County Departments inspection requirements) that No Building Code inspections be completed by County Building Inspectors. In addition, by selecting this option, No construction plans are required to be submitted or reviewed by the County Planning Department.
- Our code compliant TOXIC houses and especially mobile homes are killing us and we really should ENCOURAGE experimentation with alternative materials such as papercrete, hempcrete, adobe, cob, in-ground living areas, etc.
- Mohave County revenues would INCREASE tremendously if people built homes here again.
Not only would property tax revenue increase, but the economy would benefit tremendously not just from the building, but from the residents paying for goods and services in Kingman and Bullhead and especially medical services can bring literally hundreds of thousands of dollars per resident to Mohave County — paid for by insurance and going directly to the people living in Mohave County: the doctors, nurses, receptionists, janitors, lab technicians, etc. etc.
Sometimes I hear BOS discussions and it almost seams like they understand the huge positive economic impact of tourism.
Why don’t they understand the benefits of attracting more residents?
Is it Agenda 21? They don’t WANT people in the rural areas anymore?
I don’t want every lot to be built on either, but we need BALANCE. As so many of my friends and neighbors moved closer to doctors or died, many in their 60s, we need new people moving here, we need to get rid of the vacant unsafe mobile homes and encourage residents to BUILD.
Most land owners purchased lots here because they had a dream — to retire and to build their own home in the beautiful Mohave County high desert.
SO MANY have done this until 2008, when building inspections were required. Most built beautiful homes, far superior to even the most expensive mobile homes.
Nobody deserves the abuse my neighbor has been suffering.
ESPECIALLY in a county like Mohave County where a gazillion organizations pride themselves in supporting veterans, the County excels at causing harm. I don’t like to play the “vet card” because I believe that the truck drivers who deliver our food and all the crap we need deserve just as much respect and support. Truck drivers have a short life expectancy and many suffer with chronic ailments and extremely painful back issues. I’ve NEVER seen any kind of appreciation for the truck drivers’ service, or the nurses that wipes our asses when we’re sick or the teachers that teach our kids or the construction workers outside in this heat all day working on the roads.
Nobody deserves this harassment.
We ALL deserve BETTER!
My neighbor shouldn’t have to play the Vietnam Vet card, but it is an option.
My email to our supervisor Jean Bishop:
7/25/18
Dear Supervisor Bishop:
We need some urgent changes to the way the building and MAINTENANCE codes are enforced and the short story is at [this URL]
I really did not appreciate Ed Kulik’s attitude when I spoke to him today, but my neighbor was in good spirits when I called to give him the bad news because I promised to do whatever I can to assist him and he’s ready to fight.
However, he already sent an email to Mr. Kulik asking for an appointment as he would much rather resolve this issue instead of getting into a long drawn out legal and media battle. He asked me whether I could attend the meeting and of course I will if I don’t have to work. Maybe you could attend too? I know how busy you are, it’s an option.
Maybe you can stop this madness of requiring my neighbor to hire someone (who???) to determine which sections of the International Property Maintenance Code were violated?
And if it’s slow at County enforcement, I can certainly provide 20 or 30 VACANT properties to keep everybody busy and there is no need to put my neighbor into an early grave.
In my posting I addressed many related issues as well as solutions such as exemptions as in Cochise County. I don’t understand why Mohave County policies are turning one of the most beautiful deserts on the planet into this place of misery, depression, sickness and hopelessness.
Increasing the maximum square footage for non permitted structures to 300 sqft was an excellent step in the right direction, but what’s happening to my neighbor is insane!
I’ll greatly appreciate your looking into this abuse of power that quite likely WILL kill my neighbor and others,
Christine Baker
This is absolutely amazing. It took all of these county resources to give this fellow grief?? If I were him I’d go the lawyer route and sue for discrimination, all a reasonable person has to present is the total lAck of the abatement process in the rest of the county. It seeems that this fellow is on their radar and that’s all they see. Bishop needs to step up or a lawyer needs to fight.
Start a “ go fund me” site
Rick, Jean Bishop already got back to me last night, she’ll look into it today.
Of course I’ll update here.
I would like to be a part of this fight.
I know for a fact Ed Kulik picks on people that are trying.
Not the ones that are the problem in the area.
Christine I have read an article regarding your neighbor and codes . The harassment he went though. I’d like to email you if possible in regards to a similar problem.
Mrs.stvojeff@gmail.com
Teri, I’m incredibly busy just trying to catch up after a horrific fire and I have bills to pay. With $298 social security I have to somehow try to make a living.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/jeff-lost-everything
Ed Kulik will not work with anyone trying to clean their place up or trying to bring their place up to code.
Ed Kulik cannot be fired for doing his job, I agree with that.
But he should loose his job cause from what I have seen he only picks on people that is trying.
He red tagged me after I had work done by licensed contractors.
All he just did was show everyone do the work yourself and don’t say anything or Ed Kulik will RED TAG YOU.
I would like to get a bunch of us together and try to get this Ed Kulik fired.
Why is he only picking on people that is trying to do the right thing?
Hi Brian, is your property one of the pre 2008 structures that wasn’t inspected at the time?
I don’t think firing Ed is the issue, at least not at this time. I think the BOS needs to step in and change how that Building MAINTENANCE Code is applied.
Is that the issue in your case?
Myself and my family 8 year old and girlfriend live on property in fort Mohave. It was a total mess. We have been working almost daily for 8 months to clean it up. Then last February code enforcement shows up with a lot of false accusations and steals my electric meter and says we have to leave the property. They would not tell us nothing. If anybody can tell me how to fight them please let us know.
Randy, the reason I posted about this issue is so that people like you can copy what we did.
You either need to pay a lawyer or do it yourself. Send the emails just like I did. You need to establish the FACTS with the exact timeline — what happened when.
I highly recommend NOT talking to them unless you are recording the conversation. And while the recording is admissible in court, it’s very expensive to pay for official transcripts and it’s just so much easier to process WRITTEN communications.
You can either contact the building / zoning people directly or contact your supervisor for assistance as we did.
If you hire a lawyer in AZ it will run you into bankruptcy, win or lose. Once you get started, the attorney for the other side won’t back out, so you keep on with endless extensions, motions, highly paid expert witnesses, inspections, and never ending meetings. I sued a contractor in Phoenix for a $40,000 mistake he made. The defense dragged out the procedure for four years. No timelines written into law were enforced, she missed court dates, filing deadlines, and each time the Superior Court judge ignored the law and permitted her to keep going. After four years, we got a $100,000 judgment, all of which went to the attorney, in addition to another $40,000 out of my pocket. The contractor had the judgment paid by his insurance. In AZ, the judge overrules the journey on awards and attorney costs. If a jury awards you $200,000, the judge will dismiss the case with prejudice, so each side pays their own attorney fees. It’s written into the law by state legislators who get kickbacks from the attorneys and the AZ Bar. This particular crook has been sued six times, lost, keeps going and getting richer. One of the expert witnesses was described by the attorney for the defense as an “engineer”. It’s a scam. He was an out of work radio disc jockey who hires himself out for defense attorneys. His only engineering work is to start the robo call computer each morning. Yet, judges treat these charlatans with reverence because they put money into attorneys’ pocket. In other cases, my crook had an agreement with plumbers, who would get calls, go into the homes of elderly and single people, tear the plumbing apart so the home was ruined, then call the crook who left it in worse shape than it was. He was issued two cease and desist orders by a city judge, sent someone else out on the job who ruined the house, lost his case paid nothing, and the poor people who had their home ruined got hit with more than $100,000 in attorney’s fees, despite the law says the victorious party “may” recover costs and attorney’s fees. The judge overrules and the victim gets soaked. The Attorney General is too busy and can never find evidence to file charges, even though the evidence is already in the court record. White collar criminals in AZ don’t get charged as long as they write a check to someone’s campaign. There used to be a senior citizens’ abuse council in AZ which actively protected seniors. It has now been stripped of all its power and does nothing except have meetings and go on tours. It’s merely a dumping ground for the governor’s huge contributors to fleece taxpayers with high salaries. The Attorney General is an absolute buffoon. His wife was a white collar crime attorney for the state, who never prosecuted a white collar criminal of any note successfully, yet she was appointed to a federal judgeship by President Trump. It never ends in AZ, and it gets worse by the minute, as every crook in the world is flocking here knowing they can rob the citizens of this state endlessly in return for a campaign contribution.
You are correct. Which is why I did everything myself and we opted to use the court of public opinion instead of the corrupt AZ courts.
I HAVE prevailed in courts, in the AZ court of appeals, in the federal court of appeals in the 9th circuit, but it is so damned hard and literally makes you sick.
So what do we do?
Christine, I and my son own property just out of kingman and are about to begin the septic and building process. We want a tiny house. Already im getting flack from unisource about not supplying power to the property if im under 400 sq. ft. I beleive you could help us tremendously. Could you please make contact with us. John and Kyle linki777@yahoo.com
So sorry, John, been so busy, life …. I’d really like to change county code requirements and have done quite a bit of research, most other AZ counties have opt-out provisions.
And recently a bill was introduced to prohibiting building and zoning permits in AZ unincorporated areas. It would be FANTASTIC, but I saw no sponsors and I got no response to my email. From my FB post:
I hope this passes!
It would be SO cool not to have to worry about the Mohave County Building NAZIS.
Who proposed this bill?
Rep. Barbara Parker [R]
https://legiscan.com/AZ/sponsors/HB2096/2024
“Status
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: N/A – 0% progression
Action: 2023-12-27 – Prefile
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [HTML]”
The local papers have been writing about it as if it was about to happen, but 0% progression.
What does it take to make this happen?
https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=49752839
PARKER, BARBARA has run in 1 race for public office, winning 1 of them. The candidate has raised a total of $18,287.
I thought maybe TuffShed was funding this legislation.
I just wrote to her:
1/9/24
Hello Rep. Parker,
Our Mohave County papers have been writing about this Bill as if it was about to happen and I was super excited. But I see no co-sponsors and 0% progress.
We need to get our many retirees, vets, disabled and sick on limited income out of toxic and leaky fire traps like mobile homes and campers and into REAL structures. The current permitting and inspection requirements make it impossible for most.
I’ve lost friends and neighbors because they couldn’t afford heating and cooling those old mobiles and campers. And half the population has dementia from mold and toxins.
Do you have more plain English info about the bill somewhere to distribute online?
What does it take to make this happen? Why are there no co-sponsors?
What can the people do to move this bill along, is there anyone specifically to contact?
Thanks,
Christine Baker
I just saw an update to the bill:
“Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-01 – House Committee of the Whole action: Do Pass Amended [HB2096 Detail]”
Don’t have time right now to read it.
”’this is john and Kyle. Looks like we could be in for a real fight with mohave county. All we want is to build a small home on a acre of property.
So sorry for the late reply, been so busy and had practically no internet until a couple weeks ago. Hope to get a lot of web work done this winter.
I just bought a couple acres for a plant and building demonstration site. I don’t know what the current rules are, but we definitely need to get approval for natural building materials like cob and owner-built code exemptions as in other Arizona counties.
Just so much going on and I seem to always be the only one “doing”, would so appreciate some help with lobbying, providing the info from other areas to convince our legislators and building inspectors that a little common sense goes a long way!
Since I know this is an old article, has it gotten any better there in terms of building and inspections? Do you think they will ever move to be like Cochise with the owner build opt out?
Hi Nik, as far as I know, nothing changed.
What they will do depends on what the people want. And you’d think with Mohave County being a Qanon hotspot and everybody talking about freedom and liberty, the locals would want the freedom to build healthy natural structures. But their vision is limited to owning many AR-15s.
Strangely, the “locals” are from all over the US, mostly retirees, and I can’t figure out why people are how they are.
As an update to this post, my neighbor Larry died and his heirs eventually want to sell the property. Currently we don’t have a road because Larry’s solid concrete driveway caused the wash to fill in and the flash flood a few days ago took the road out.
I knew this was coming, but Larry wasn’t doing well and I didn’t want to inflict more stress. So I was hoping the County would do whatever it takes to bring the wash back into the wash and restore the road, but they’re telling me it’s MY problem and I have to sue.
Why is it that the County destroys peoples’ lives when they don’t bother anyone and just do their thing on their own property without affecting anyone else?
And when an entire road is destroyed affecting others and possibly causing serious injury or even death to unsuspecting drivers, they do NOTHING.
I’ll be posting more about that next week along with some cool videos.
sorry for the late reply (2022 has been a beast).
Sorry to hear that your neighbor passed. I had to laugh about the Qnon hotspot. We are coming from FL where it is running wild with that.
We pulled the trigger and bought 1.23 acres right on Oatman Hwy. We are looking to start our build next year (crossing finger the material prices come back down). Has the Ed Kulik dude calmed down or has it got worse? I spoke with a really nice lady at permitting but she even warned me the inspector/code enforcement/blah blah blah can be “Nazi-ish with newcomers thinking they can just move [to the area] and change things.” I had to laugh because we are moving because we are trying to get away from the crazy and we are expanding our business to Nevada.
Nick, I have yet to find a single person in this godforsaken county who gives a shit about anything but Trump. Lots of good people here too, but just ZERO energy or activism to create change. If they’re not Trump supporters they’re just staying low. It’s like people are in a daze, serious cognitive decline. Cultish.
The County is now actively pursuing my neighbor, the 35 day deadline to demolish the house is probably about up and Larry’s daughters are dealing with the County. Heard that other neighbors were in escrow to buy it for $10k and then the condemnation notice came up and the deal died. That likely got the County’s attention. They’ll probably give extensions and “someone” was supposed to be willing to take over the property, but I don’t know who in their right mind would do that.
I almost died in August, trying to get severely mentally ill homeless Elliot out of the desert. From heat stroking to 200 / 135 blood pressure … it’s a miracle I’m alive today and didn’t have a heart attack.
https://repairthebrain.com/mohave-county-abandons-gravely-ill-homeless-man-to-die-in-the-desert-in-violation-of-arizona-state-law/
That’s my big project, but I also realized that I have to sell my place, can’t even maintain it on my $266 social security, not to mention “live.”
Ultimately, if I should outlive the proceeds from the sale, I’ll be living in the desert like Elliot. I realize now that it won’t be so bad if I go to the desert in summer and the heat just fries the brain and you feel NOTHING anymore, just don’t care.
In the meantime, I’ll try to get some more info posted at https://highdesertpermaculture.org/ and hopefully build some adobe / cob structures under 300 sqft at the new lots. Maybe if I can document how well it works, keep track of temps inside without heating and cooling … After I sold my place, so much deferred maintenance here.
Why didn’t you buy in a NV county that doesn’t have code restrictions or even outside Flag where they have code exemptions?