Off-Grid Living in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

Jefferson Parish is a metro New Orleans area coastal parish, and I want to be upfront that this isn't the kind of place with wide-open rural land where off-grid living is straightforward. Unlike a lot of Louisiana parishes that have no zoning at all, Jefferson Parish maintains a full zoning ordinance for its unincorporated areas, administered by the Jefferson Parish Planning Department. There are rural, suburban, and single-family districts, and what you can do with a piece of land depends heavily on which district it falls in. The incorporated cities inside the parish (Kenner, Gretna, Harahan, Westwego) run their own separate zoning and permitting, which is not confirmed in detail here, so if you're looking at land in one of those cities you need to call that city directly, not the parish.

On dwellings, the parish has a dedicated article covering manufactured and mobile homes, and mobile homes are allowed in suburban districts if you meet the criteria and get approval under that article. RVs used as permanent housing face real restrictions, and there's a formal process (including a Board of Zoning Adjustments) for handling RV parking situations that don't fit the standard rules. I couldn't confirm specific rules for tiny homes on wheels; they'd likely fall under the same RV-type scrutiny, so ask the Planning Department directly.

Building permits are handled locally by the Jefferson Parish Building Permits Department, enforcing Louisiana's statewide building code (the LSUCC). That's a state-set code administered at the parish level, not something Jefferson Parish invented on its own.

Septic systems are also state-governed in a real legal sense: Louisiana law (per the Department of Health) says no parish can regulate onsite sewage treatment without LDH's sign-off, so septic permitting here runs through the Jefferson Parish Health Unit under state authority. Composting toilets aren't separately addressed in anything I found, so treat that as unconfirmed and ask the health unit.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting don't appear to have parish-specific rules beyond whatever the state plumbing code says, so the state baseline is what applies as far as I can tell.

Private wells are unusual here since the parish itself supplies water to roughly 159,000 accounts. Well permitting itself is a state matter (LDENR and LDH), but I couldn't confirm any parish-specific well restrictions given the high water table and low-lying terrain, so ask before you drill.

Finally, on going off-grid entirely (no utility hookups), I found no Jefferson Parish ordinance mandating connection to parish water or sewer, but I also found no explicit parish rule protecting your right to disconnect. Treat this as unresolved and confirm with the parish before committing to a fully unplugged setup.