Off-Grid Living in Hillsdale County, Michigan

I'll be upfront about how Hillsdale County, Michigan works, because it trips people up: there's no single county rulebook that covers off-grid living here. Michigan's Zoning Enabling Act hands land-use zoning to individual townships, cities, and villages, not to the county government. So whether you can put a dwelling on raw land, park an RV as a residence, or build a cabin without hookups depends heavily on which specific township your parcel sits in, or whether it's inside the City of Hillsdale.

That said, a few things actually are handled above the township level. Building permit inspection is administered through the Hillsdale County Building/Inspection Department, and that office issues permits and signs off on occupancy even for construction inside city limits. Before they'll issue a permit for a deck, addition, or accessory structure, though, the City of Hillsdale requires zoning approval first if you're inside city boundaries. If you're out in a township, you'd need to check with that township's own zoning administrator, since Hillsdale County itself doesn't run a unified zoning code for unincorporated land.

Septic and well permitting is also handled above the township level, through the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (BHSJ), a tri-county district health department. BHSJ issues on-site sewage disposal permits and residential well permits, and the well permit generally needs to be squared away before the county will issue a building permit for new construction. I did not find anything from BHSJ specifically addressing composting toilets, so treat that as an open question to ask them directly rather than assume it's allowed as a septic substitute.

On tiny homes, RVs as permanent residences, greywater reuse, and rainwater harvesting, I could not find Hillsdale County or township-specific ordinances. My best read is that these default to Michigan's statewide baseline: the Michigan Residential Code (without the state having adopted Appendix Q for tiny homes), the state plumbing code framework for greywater, and the state's general allowance for rainwater collection. But "inherits the state baseline" is not the same as "confirmed locally," so don't take my word for it before you build.

On full utility disconnection, there's no ordinance I found that bans it outright, but the permitting chain (well permit and septic permit required from BHSJ before the county issues a building permit, plus an occupancy sign-off from the County Building Official) means going fully off-grid on a new build isn't as simple as skipping utility hookups. It functionally requires an approved water and wastewater plan even if you never touch a power line.

Bottom line: call the township first for zoning, then the County Building Department and BHSJ for permits. The rules genuinely vary parcel to parcel here.