Off-Grid Living in Alger County, Michigan

I've been digging into county and township records for Alger County, Michigan, and the first thing I'll tell you plainly: there is no single "Alger County off-grid rulebook." The county itself doesn't do zoning at all. Instead you're dealing with a patchwork of township ordinances, a county building department, and a regional health district. Here's how it breaks down.

Zoning is entirely a township matter here. Alger County itself has no countywide zoning ordinance, so whether you can put a cabin, tiny home, or off-grid structure on a piece of land depends on which township it sits in (Au Train, Mathias, Munising Township, etc.), or on the City of Munising if it's inside city limits. Each has adopted its own ordinance under Michigan's Zoning Enabling Act, with its own districts and setback rules. You genuinely have to call the specific township office before assuming anything.

Dwellings and building permits run through the county. The Alger County Building Codes Department issues permits countywide for new construction, additions, and accessory buildings, but you can't get one until you've cleared township zoning approval and LMAS well/septic sign-off. Michigan hasn't adopted the Appendix Q tiny-house allowances that some states use, and I found nothing carving out an exception for RVs as permanent residences in Alger County, so treat that as unconfirmed and ask the building department directly.

Septic and wells are handled not by the county but by the LMAS District Health Department, a joint health department covering Luce, Mackinac, Alger, and Schoolcraft counties. They require a construction permit for any new or replacement septic system, and a separate application and site evaluation before you can drill a well, with a licensed driller and follow-up water testing. No building permit gets issued without their approval in hand.

Composting toilets, greywater, and rainwater harvesting are areas where I simply didn't find local ordinances. That likely means the state's plumbing code baseline applies by default, but neither the county nor LMAS has published specific local guidance I could locate, so confirm directly with the health department before you build a system around assumptions.

Living fully off-grid (no municipal water or sewer) isn't explicitly banned, and owning bare land without building on it seems to carry no special restriction. But if you want a permitted, occupied dwelling, the interlocking chain of township zoning, LMAS well/septic approval, and county building permit makes an unapproved "no utilities" home effectively unworkable in practice.

Bottom line: start with your township, then LMAS, then the county building department, in that order, before you buy or build.