Off-Grid Living in Union Parish, Louisiana

I'll be upfront: Union Parish, Louisiana isn't one of those places where I can hand you a tidy rulebook. It's a mostly rural parish (seat: Farmerville) without a comprehensive countywide zoning ordinance the way you'd find in a lot of other places, but that doesn't mean it's a free-for-all. There's a real permit process, it's just run through a mix of parish offices rather than a single planning department.

Zoning: Outside the incorporated towns (Farmerville, Bernice, Lillie, Marion), the parish doesn't appear to have a full zoning-district map, though the Police Jury's Code of Ordinances does reference a "Planning and Development" chapter and property-records sources mention a parish "Planning and Zoning Department." I couldn't pin down the actual district rules from an official source, so I'm calling this unclear/varies. If you're inside one of the towns, that town sets its own land-use rules separately.

Building a home: Here's the part that's actually well-documented. If you're building a residence, commercial building, or even locating a "movable dwelling" on parish land outside town limits, the Police Jury requires you to apply for a temporary building permit before you start anything. That application has to go to the Union Parish Health Unit for approval first (this is where septic gets checked), then a final permit gets issued by the Police Jury office. A contracted building official, Lagniappe Inspection Services, reviews plans before permits issue. If your lot is in a flood zone, expect to need elevation certificates from a licensed surveyor. Tiny homes and RVs aren't specifically classified anywhere I could find, so ask the Police Jury how they'd treat yours.

Septic: Handled through the state's Louisiana Department of Health system, with a sanitarian stationed at the Union Parish Health Unit doing local permitting. That sign-off is a required step in the parish's own building-permit sequence, so you can't skip it even if you're totally off-grid otherwise.

Greywater, rainwater, and wells: I found no Union Parish-specific ordinances on any of these three. That means, as far as my research shows, they default to Louisiana's statewide plumbing code and state well-construction rules (Office of Conservation / LDH). I'd still call the parish health unit to confirm there's no local wrinkle before you build a greywater or catchment system.

Utility disconnection: No parish rule specifically blesses or blocks living off-grid electrically or without municipal water/sewer. But remember, the building-permit trigger is "building a residence" or "locating a movable dwelling," not whether you hook up to utilities, so the same permit paperwork (E-911 addressing, health unit approval, possible flood documentation) applies to you either way.

Bottom line: get the Police Jury's Building Permit Instructions PDF, and call the offices below before you buy land or start building. A lot of the finer print here just isn't published anywhere I could verify.