Off-Grid Living in Union County, Mississippi

I'll be upfront: Union County, Mississippi is one of those places where my research hit a wall on the local rules, and I think it's more honest to tell you that plainly than to paper over it with guesses.

Zoning. I could not find an official Union County zoning ordinance, zoning map, or planning department page anywhere, not on the county's own site (unioncoms.com), not on Municode or eCode360, not through a regional planning commission. Plenty of rural Mississippi counties simply have no countywide zoning, leaving land-use control to incorporated towns like New Albany, Blue Springs, Myrtle, and Sherman. That may well be the case here, but I can't confirm it, so treat it as unverified.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. Same story: no Union County ordinance on tiny homes, RVs, or manufactured housing turned up. Mississippi has no statewide tiny-home law, so this is left to counties and towns, and Union County's specific stance just isn't published anywhere I could find. Call before you plan around any assumption.

Building permits and codes. Mississippi is unusual in that building codes are adopted locally, county by county and city by city, rather than statewide. Many rural counties adopt little or nothing. I found no record either way for Union County. What I can confirm is a state-level requirement: under Mississippi's contractor-licensing statute, whoever issues building permits (county or city) is supposed to refuse a permit to anyone doing residential building or remodeling work unless they're licensed or exempt under state law. That applies regardless of what Union County itself has adopted.

Septic and composting toilets. This one is solid. The Mississippi State Department of Health runs onsite wastewater permitting statewide, and Union County is explicitly named among the counties covered by this program. Applications for new systems go through MSDH's online forms process. No Union County-specific variance appeared.

Greywater. Mississippi doesn't have a separate greywater law; it's folded into the same MSDH onsite wastewater program as septic. No Union County-specific greywater page exists, so the state program is what governs here.

Rainwater harvesting. No county ordinance restricts it, and nothing suggests Mississippi restricts residential rain barrels or cisterns generally. This should be a low-friction one.

Wells. No Union County well ordinance surfaced. Mississippi domestic wells are generally exempt from state withdrawal permitting, but state law requires a licensed well contractor to drill them.

Utility disconnection. No county rule on grid disconnection found. Off-grid power generation is legal in Mississippi, though full grid disconnection can run into state-level utility interconnection rules rather than anything Union County has written down.

Bottom line: for a lot of these categories, Union County is quiet, and quiet doesn't always mean permissive. Call the Board of Supervisors or the Chancery Clerk before you commit to a plan.