Off-Grid Living in Richmond County, New York

Richmond County is one of those places where the name is misleading. There's no independent county government here at all, it's coextensive with the borough of Staten Island, so every "county-level" rule you'd chase in a rural county is actually set and enforced by New York City agencies: the Department of City Planning, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. If you're picturing an off-grid setup like you'd find upstate, I want to reset that expectation right away. Staten Island is fully zoned and fully coded. There's no "no zoning" loophole to hide in.

Zoning runs through NYC's Zoning Resolution, including a Special South Richmond Development District that layers extra natural-resource rules onto much of the island. Any raw-land use decision goes to NYC City Planning, not a county board.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: foundation-built small structures get filed with NYC Department of Buildings as accessory dwelling units or primary residences. Wheeled units are treated as vehicles, not housing. NYC's newer "City of Yes" ADU rules may or may not fully apply to this special district yet, I couldn't confirm that, so ask DOB directly before you plan around it.

Building permits come from NYC DOB under the city's own Construction Codes, not the state Uniform code. Plans need a NYS-licensed architect or engineer's stamp, filed through the city's DOB NOW or BIS system.

Septic: parts of Staten Island still lack sewers, so individual sewage systems are regulated directly by the NYC Health Code. There are specific groundwater-testing timing rules tied to tidal areas near Hylan Boulevard and Arthur Kill Road, and alternative treatment systems must meet state standards referenced in the code. Cesspools can't be repaired once they fail. NYC DEP has also been actively extending sewers into septic areas like Tottenville specifically to phase out on-site systems, which tells you the city's direction of travel here.

Greywater: I found nothing Staten-Island-specific. Assume the state's more restrictive baseline applies and confirm with DEP before building anything.

Rainwater harvesting looks permitted under general state standards, with no added Staten Island restriction found, but check NYC Plumbing Code storage details with DEP or DOB.

Wells are the most heavily regulated item here. You need a Health Department permit to drill or use any well, potable or not, and for potable use you must prove city water isn't accessible and pass water-quality testing DEP can verify. Non-potable discharge needs a separate DEP approval, and every application requires a site assessment from a licensed architect or engineer. This is a real step up from the simpler state DEC process elsewhere in New York.

Utility disconnection: nothing says grid connection is legally mandatory, but between building codes, health codes, and DEP's active sewer expansion into septic neighborhoods, the practical effect is that off-grid living is squeezed out.

My honest take: Richmond County is probably the hardest place in New York State to go legitimately off-grid. Everything routes through city agencies built for dense urban housing, not homesteading.