Off-Grid Living in Yates County, New York

If you're looking at raw land in Yates County, New York, the first thing I want you to understand is that the county itself has no countywide zoning or building code. Yates County's Planning & Development Department does consultation, reviews municipal referrals for county-wide impact (under General Municipal Law §239), and keeps up the county Comprehensive Plan, but it does not zone land or issue building permits. That job belongs to each of the county's nine towns (Barrington, Benton, Italy, Jerusalem, Middlesex, Milo, Potter, Starkey, Torrey) and any villages within them. So the honest answer to "can I do X here" is almost always "depends which town."

Zoning: Set town-by-town. I haven't been able to confirm whether any Yates town has no zoning at all, so you'll want to check the specific town's code directly.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: Restricted, and again enforced locally. The Town of Jerusalem is a good example: it has a Code Enforcement Officer who administers the NYS Uniform Code and Energy Code, and who approves or denies building permits and certificates of occupancy. Statewide, using an RV or a tiny house on wheels as a permanent residence remains restricted under the state baseline; I found no town-specific exemption in Yates County.

Building permits: There's no county building department. Every town runs its own permitting through its own Code Enforcement Officer, applying the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code.

Septic and composting toilets: Restricted under the state framework. The Yates County Public Health Department works with the NYS Department of Health's Geneva District Office on environmental health, and onsite wastewater systems statewide are governed by NYSDOH Appendix 75-A. I did not find a Yates-specific sanitary code stricter than the state rule (some New York counties, like Washington County, do have their own; Yates doesn't appear to).

Greywater: No Yates-specific ordinance turned up. It inherits the state baseline, which technically permits reuse but restricts it heavily (disinfection requirements for things like toilet-flushing reuse).

Rainwater harvesting: Permitted, inheriting the state baseline for non-potable use. No county restriction found.

Wells: Permitted, with oversight. Yates County's water quality guidance recommends testing and maintenance, and statewide, new or replacement wells must be installed by a DEC-registered driller under NYSDOH Appendix 5-B. No Yates-specific well permitting beyond that state standard was confirmed, but the notes flag that some counties add their own requirements, so it's worth a call to the local health department to be sure.

Utility disconnection: Because zoning and building codes are entirely town-level in Yates County, whether you can legally live off-grid without utility hookups depends on your specific town's Uniform Code administration. There's no countywide mandate either way in the official sources I found.

Bottom line: Yates County hands most of the real decision-making down to its towns. Before you buy or build, find out exactly which town your parcel is in, then call that town's code office directly.