Polk County's Zoning Ordinance lets a licensed RV or camper be used as temporary shelter for up to 21 days a year (max 14 consecutive nights). Storing an unlicensed or inoperable boat/RV outdoors is a health nuisance. Your city may add its own rules.
In unincorporated Polk County the Zoning Ordinance allows a recreational vehicle or camper to be used for temporary shelter for no more than 21 days per calendar year and no more than 14 consecutive nights per stay, limited to one RV per property, with waste properly disposed. After a fire or disaster makes a home unfit, a camper/RV may be occupied on the lot up to six months by permit. Merely storing a licensed, operable RV or boat is generally allowed, but storing any unlicensed, unsafe or inoperable boat or motor vehicle outdoors outside an enclosed building is a health nuisance. Incorporated cities (Des Moines, Ankeny, etc.) set their own yard-storage rules.
Storing an unlicensed/inoperable boat or vehicle outdoors is a health nuisance abatable by the County (costs assessed to the property); a violation is a misdemeanor under the Nuisance Regulation.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Polk County allows backyard composting but regulates it through the Health Nuisance Regulation: a compost pile that harbors vermin, produces offensive odors,...
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Polk County has no ordinance for or against artificial turf on residential lots. Installation on unincorporated land is generally unrestricted; cities and HO...
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Polk County has no ordinance banning native or prairie landscaping, and the county promotes native roadside vegetation. The one legal limit: your planting ca...
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Iowa has no state ban on collecting rainwater, and Polk County sets no rain-barrel ordinance. Residents may capture roof runoff in barrels or cisterns; only ...
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Polk County sets no lawn-watering schedule. Central Iowa's water is managed by Central Iowa Water Works / Des Moines Water Works, which can impose voluntary ...
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Iowa Code 317.10 requires every landowner to destroy all noxious weeds on their land as directed by the county board of supervisors. Polk County's Weed Commi...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in this county.
See how West Des Moines's rv & boat parking rules stack up against other locations.
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