Off-Grid Living in Dickey County, North Dakota

I've been digging into what it actually takes to live off-grid in Dickey County, North Dakota, and I'll be upfront: this is one of those places where the paper trail is a bit thin in spots, so I'm flagging exactly where I have solid ground and where you'll need to make a phone call yourself.

Zoning comes from the county, not the state. Unlike some rural ND counties that skip zoning altogether, Dickey County has adopted countywide zoning. There's a "2026 Zoning Ordinance" in draft form on the county's official site, along with a dedicated Building and Zoning permits page. If you're looking at raw agricultural land and want to build something unconventional, know that the draft ordinance sets up a Conditional Use Permit process run by the Board of County Commissioners for anything not explicitly allowed in a given zoning district. That's the mechanism you'd likely go through for an off-grid cabin or tiny home on ag land.

On dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs, the draft ordinance does define a "non-farm residence" category for agriculture-zoned parcels, tied to North Dakota Century Code definitions of farming. That tells me the county is watching for non-farm housing on ag land, but I couldn't find a specific minimum square footage rule or an explicit RV-as-permanent-residence policy. Absent county specifics, this likely falls back to whatever the state baseline is, which doesn't set a statewide minimum size, leaving it to local discretion.

Building permits are handled by the county, but North Dakota is a home-rule state, meaning each county decides for itself whether and how to adopt a building code. I couldn't confirm which code edition, if any, Dickey County has adopted, so ask the county's Building and Zoning office directly.

Septic systems are actually not handled by the county alone. Dickey County contracts environmental health work, including septic/OSTS permitting, to the Central Valley Health District (CVHD), which covers eight counties in southeast-central ND. Installers also need a state license from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. So expect two layers: CVHD for the local permit, state DEQ for installer licensing.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting I found nothing county- or district-specific on either topic. Treat both as inheriting whatever the state's general (and honestly murky) baseline is, and don't assume a green light without checking.

Private wells aren't governed by a Dickey County-specific ordinance that I could find. The state's DEQ Municipal Facilities division inspects "community" and "non-community" water systems, and your county health unit may get involved if your well counts as a non-community supply.

Utility disconnection (living without grid power, water, or sewer hookups) doesn't appear to be mandated by any Dickey County ordinance I found. The zoning conditional-use process is probably where any off-grid setup that looks unusual would get evaluated, case by case.

Bottom line: zoning and conditional-use permitting run through the county, septic runs through Central Valley Health District plus state licensing, and quite a bit else (greywater, rainwater, wells, utility hookups) just isn't spelled out locally, so a phone call before you buy or build will save you headaches.