Off-Grid Living in Clermont County, Ohio

If you're eyeing raw land in Clermont County, Ohio for an off-grid setup, the first thing I want you to understand is that there's no countywide zoning here. Ohio law (ORC 519) gives zoning authority to townships, not counties, and the Clermont County Planning Commission itself only advises township zoning commissions and trustees, it doesn't set the rules. That means whether you can live in an RV, park a tiny home, or simply occupy raw land depends entirely on which township your parcel sits in. Washington Township, for example, has no zoning at all, while others like Union or Ohio Township have full zoning resolutions with inspectors and permitted-use lists. There's no shortcut here: you have to call the specific township zoning office before you buy or build.

Where the county does step in uniformly is building permits, septic, and private water. The Clermont County Building Inspection Department is state-certified to enforce the Residential Code of Ohio and the Ohio Building Code across every township and village in the county. Even something like a fence over six feet needs a permit here, so don't assume small structures fly under the radar.

Septic is handled by Clermont County Public Health under the state's sewage code (Ohio Administrative Code). New construction requires plan approval before you break ground, and systems get inspected before they're covered or put into use. Composting toilets aren't addressed specifically in anything I found, so treat that as an open question for the health department. Greywater is similarly quiet in the county's public materials, though it does reference "advanced technology" systems with pre-treatment and dosing under state rules, worth a direct call to confirm.

Water is actually one of the more interesting local wrinkles: because the county's geology makes well-drilling difficult in many areas, cisterns are the dominant private water system locally, not wells. Both wells and cisterns fall under Ohio Department of Health oversight, administered locally through Clermont County Public Health, and you apply for your water system alongside your septic system since both must clear review before a building permit issues.

Bottom line on "living disconnected": I didn't find any ordinance requiring hookup to public electric or water, but the permitting sequence functionally requires an approved water source and sewage plan before you get a building permit. Off-grid electric isn't addressed in anything I reviewed, so that piece remains genuinely unclear. Given how much rides on township-level zoning here, I'd treat every answer below as a starting point, not a final word, until you've called your specific township.