Off-Grid Living in Lancaster County, Nebraska

I'll be upfront: Lancaster County, Nebraska has an unusual setup that trips people up. There's no separate county-only planning department here. Instead, zoning and planning are run jointly by the City of Lincoln and Lancaster County, through the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department. If you're outside Lincoln but inside a village like Waverly, Hickman, Bennet, Malcolm, or Raymond, that town's own code may override the county rules within its limits and extraterritorial zone, so always check locally before assuming the county resolution applies to your parcel.

Zoning: The county operates under its own zoning resolution (originally adopted in 1979), with districts like AG Agricultural, AGR Agricultural Residential, R Residential, and others. There's no separate legal category for just living on raw land in an RV or shack, it gets folded into whatever the district and dwelling rules say. I'd call the joint Planning Department before buying land, especially if your plan is unconventional.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: Nebraska state law prevents cities and counties from banning HUD-code manufactured homes outright, but local governments can still require the same setbacks, foundation, and square-footage rules as site-built homes. I found a non-official source claiming Lancaster County allows tiny homes on permanent foundations around 320 square feet, with wheeled units confined to RV parks, but that's not confirmed on an official county page, so treat it as a lead to verify, not a rule to rely on.

Building permits: The Lincoln Building Division handles permitting and code enforcement for both city and county projects under the joint arrangement. I could not confirm which specific code edition applies to unincorporated county land, so ask the Building Division directly.

Septic: Nebraska's Authorization by Rule system covers most onsite systems without a state construction permit, but the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department still issues local permits and inspects installations. Composting toilets aren't addressed anywhere I found, so that's a direct question for the Health Department.

Greywater: No county-specific ordinance exists; greywater falls under the same state and local wastewater rules as septic, meaning it's treated as regulated wastewater rather than something you can just disperse untreated.

Rainwater: I found nothing at the county level, one way or the other. Genuinely unclear, worth a direct call to Planning to see if anyone's ever asked.

Wells: This is one of the more clearly documented pieces. Lancaster County sits across two Natural Resources Districts, Lower Platte South (LPSNRD) and Nemaha (NNRD), each with its own permitting thresholds tied to pumping capacity. The county zoning code itself requires a well permit (or proof one isn't needed) as part of a development application.

Off-grid living generally: No blanket ban on disconnecting from utilities in unincorporated county land, but you're still bound by the well and septic permitting above, plus zoning. Incorporated towns may require hookups where lines exist; that's a town-by-town question.