Off-Grid Living in Kent County, Michigan

I'll level with you up front: Kent County, Michigan is a confusing place to research off-grid rules because the county itself has almost no zoning power. Under Michigan's Zoning Enabling Act, county zoning jurisdiction doesn't reach into areas already covered by township zoning, and townships, cities, and villages hold the real authority there. Kent County is made up of 21 townships, five villages, and nine cities, and each one writes its own zoning and building rules. So when I say "Kent County" below for zoning and building questions, what I really mean is "whichever township or city your parcel sits in" - you have to look that up specifically before you buy land or build anything.

Where the county actually runs the show is environmental health: septic systems and private wells are permitted and regulated countywide by the Kent County Health Department, under its own Sewage Disposal Regulations and Water Supply Regulations. For septic, the Health Officer has to sign off on any system, including alternative or composting setups, and can reject one deemed a nuisance or hazard. For wells, the Health Officer can withhold a permit if he thinks it endangers public health or the water source, and water samples have to go through a state-certified lab. Small land divisions under an acre also get reviewed by the health department under the state's Land Division Act.

For dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs, I didn't find a county-specific ordinance. Michigan hasn't adopted Appendix Q (the tiny-house provisions) statewide, so you're working from the 2015 Michigan Residential Code as administered by LARA, plus whatever your township or city adds on top. Building permits themselves are issued locally, not by the county, city departments in Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, and similar, or by township building officials elsewhere.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting don't appear to have any Kent County-specific rules I could confirm, so treat them as governed by the state plumbing code baseline, generally workable but check with your local building department before installing anything permanent.

There's no explicit "off-grid ban" in the materials I reviewed, but in practice the health department's septic and well permitting process means any occupied dwelling has to have an approved private water and sewage system before local occupancy sign-off, so full utility disconnection isn't really a free pass, it's channeled through that permitting system instead.

Bottom line: call the county health department for septic/well questions, and call your specific township or city hall for zoning and building questions. Don't assume county policy applies to your parcel until you've checked with the local unit.