![]() ![]() Usually, this happens in rural areas closer to town. Some counties will not allow you to be disconnected from their utilities. The best advice in these cases is to move out of that county if you want your freedom to choose where you get your water. Some counties require you to be hooked up to city water, period, and they will not budge on that or approve any other source. Not to mention living off grid is about being self-sufficient and not dependent upon others for the basics of life. Not everyone has $15k to throw around so it becomes cost-prohibitive to hook up to city utilities. I’ve seen it as high as $15k for some counties. Also, there is usually a large fee involved with hooking up to city water. If you’re lucky you will have a well of your own and do not need to hook up to city water. There must be a water source on your property. Your neighbors have a say about your property and what you are allowed to do with it. You must also go to the county office and get your subdivision approved and voted on by the committee and your neighbors. At that point, you must install roads, water management systems (ditches), and submit a plan for your subdivision and where all the “lots” are located.Įach lot is then registered with the city, and an address is given. Sometimes you might be able to get a variance and get approved by the county for parceling out your land in smaller lots, but then it usually becomes what they define as a “subdivision”. In some rural areas, minimum lot sizes are as large as 20-40 acres. This is severely limiting if you wanted to parcel out your off grid land for business or to sell it off. The reasoning behind this is county planning and population density ‘requirements’ set forth by the county in rural areas. Most rural minimum lot sizes are around 5-10 acres. But once you move out further from the city/town center into rural areas, the minimum lot sizes become much larger and the county will not allow you to parcel out your land less than a certain size in acres. Within city limits, the lot sizes are usually small (sometimes as small as 5000 square feet) and placed close together. ![]() A variance is relatively difficult to get approved, which means that a tiny house, tiny cabin, or small home will be illegal to build. There is a way to build smaller than the minimum square footage, and that’s by getting what’s called a variance. If your building does not meet building codes you will be in violation of the law even if you do get a building permit. In addition, your cabin must meet international building codes. This means that if you want a 200-400 square foot cabin on your land, it’s probably going to be illegal to build it because the city/county will not issue a building permit. Most counties require a home size between 500-1000 square feet (minimum). All buildings/dwellings must be approved by the city and county office and you must get a permit before building. There are zoning restrictions that say your dwelling (whether a cabin or a house) must meet the minimum square footage requirements or the city/county will not issue a building permit. ![]() Not to mention it increases your costs exponentially. And that defeats the purpose of having your own land to begin with. If they will not issue a permit, then you can not camp on your land, and subsequently, you cannot build your cabin…unless you have another place to stay while you’re building. This means that if you wanted to camp in a travel trailer while you build your cabin, you can’t camp there for more than two weeks unless you get a long-term camping permit from your city. Some believe this is about keeping homeless people from setting up tent cities and devaluing surrounding properties. This seems to be an arbitrary duration that most counties and cities have adopted. In most places throughout the USA, it is illegal to camp on your own land for more than 2 weeks. ![]() Zoning Restrictions & City/County Ordinances Which Prohibit or Severely Limit Off Grid Living or Make it Illegal: The Problems: Camping on Your Own Land is Illegal That’s when it becomes illegal to live off grid. The problem arises when overly restrictive city and county ordinances and zoning restrictions put a crimp on the off grid lifestyle and make it illegal to do certain things on or with your property. ![]()
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