Off-Grid Living in Madison County, Ohio

I've been digging into Madison County, Ohio for anyone thinking about buying rural land here and living off-grid, and the short version is: this county is more organized than a lot of rural Ohio counties, which cuts both ways. There's countywide zoning here, administered by the Madison County Zoning Office, covering 13 of the county's 14 townships. One township sits outside county zoning jurisdiction, and I have not confirmed which one or how that township handles its own land-use rules, so if you're eyeing a specific parcel, call the county zoning office first and ask directly.

The zoning resolution comes from state authority under ORC Chapter 303, but the county writes and enforces its own resolution locally, with lot-size minimums in agricultural (A-1) and residential (R-1) districts. I did not find anything on the official county pages spelling out specific rules for tiny homes or RVs as permanent residences, so that's a gap: Ohio's statewide manufactured-home baseline would apply, but whether Madison County layers on anything extra for tiny homes or RV living isn't confirmed. Ask the zoning office before you commit to that plan.

For building permits, Madison County doesn't run its own building department, it contracts that function out to the Village of West Jefferson, and the county points residents to an online Permit Portal as the fastest route in. The underlying code is Ohio's Residential Code baseline, same as anywhere in the state.

Septic systems are permitted and administered by Madison County Public Health's Environmental Health Division, following state ODH rules (OAC 3701-29). A permit is required for any new home not on public sewer, and for altering or replacing an existing system. One detail worth knowing: the county won't allow new parcels under one acre, and older parcels (divided before Jan. 1983) may be grandfathered out of needing a repair area, while anything deeded after that date must have one. Composting toilets aren't separately addressed on the county's page, so they'd fall under the general state framework, and I'd confirm treatment with the health department directly.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting don't have dedicated county pages that I could find. Both would default to state rules (OAC 3701-29 and OAC 3701-28 respectively), but Madison County hasn't published anything county-specific that I can point to, so treat this as unclear and check with Environmental Health before building a system.

Private wells are permitted and regulated by the same county health department, which handles site evaluation, design review, and inspections, with well logs also filed with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

On full utility disconnection, there's no explicit county statement I found requiring electric hookup, but the septic permit requirement effectively means some sewage disposal method is mandatory if you're not on public sewer.