Off-Grid Living in Scott County, Indiana

I've been digging into Scott County, Indiana for anyone thinking about buying land and going off-grid, and here's where things stand based on official sources.

Zoning. Scott County has countywide zoning, administered jointly by the Scott County Area Plan Commission for Scottsburg and the unincorporated county. If you're inside the City of Austin, note that Austin runs its own separate Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals, so the county rules I'm describing here may not apply there. Development generally requires an Improvement Location Permit from the county.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. The county ordinance does carve out separate categories for manufactured/modular/mobile homes, manufactured home parks, and campgrounds/RV parks, which tells me these are treated distinctly. But I could not confirm an actual minimum square footage or a rule on living in an RV as a permanent dwelling from an official county source. Call the Planning Department before you commit to a build type.

Building permits. Indiana sets a statewide minimum code (IRC-based) through its Fire Prevention & Building Safety Commission, but enforcement, meaning plan review and inspections for one- and two-family homes, happens locally. In Scott County that's handled through the Planning/Building Commissioner's office.

Septic and composting toilets. Septic is permitted with a permit required. The Scott County Health Department's Environmental section runs onsite sewage from site evaluation through final inspection, using an Environmental Health Specialist and a soil scientist. Composting toilets have state-level guidance from the Indiana Department of Health, but any system still has to comply with the state onsite sewage rule (410 IAC 6-8.3), so I'd check with the county health department directly before assuming a composting toilet gets you out of a septic permit entirely.

Greywater. I found no Scott County-specific greywater ordinance or guidance. This likely falls under the same state framework as sewage, requiring health department sign-off, but that's not confirmed at the county level, so ask the Environmental section directly.

Rainwater harvesting. No county ordinance or restriction turned up on official sites. It appears permitted by default, inheriting the state's general lack of restriction, though any indoor plumbing tie-in would go through the standard building permit and plumbing code process.

Wells. Private wells are permitted and regulated at the state level by Indiana DNR (312 IAC 13 and IC 25-39), with septic-to-well separation distances governed by the state's 410 IAC 6-8.3. I didn't find a county-specific well ordinance beyond that.

Utility disconnection. No countywide mandatory hookup ordinance surfaced in my research. That likely means the state's default (no mandated hookup) applies here too, but I haven't fully verified whether the subdivision ordinance has utility connection requirements for new construction, so confirm this with Planning if it matters to your plan.

Bottom line: zoning and building enforcement are real and local in Scott County, septic is well-organized and permit-based, and several of the off-grid-specific questions (RV living, greywater, utility disconnection) just aren't spelled out publicly, meaning a phone call is genuinely your best next step.