Off-Grid Living in Pickaway County, Ohio

If you're looking at raw land in Pickaway County, Ohio, the first thing I want you to understand is that there's no countywide zoning here. Ohio gives zoning power to townships and municipalities (under state law, ORC Chapters 303 and 519), and Pickaway County itself doesn't run a unified zoning code. That means whether you can live off-grid, park an RV, or build a tiny home on a given parcel depends entirely on which township you're in. Madison, Circleville, and Deercreek townships all have their own zoning resolutions and zoning inspectors. Saltcreek Township, notably, has never adopted a zoning resolution at all, so there's no township zoning approval required there. Always call the specific township zoning inspector for the parcel you're eyeing before assuming anything.

Building permits, on the other hand, are handled countywide by the Pickaway County Building Department, which enforces the Ohio Building Code on new construction, additions, and repairs. Even the City of Circleville sends residents to the county for this since it has no building department of its own.

For septic, Pickaway County Public Health's Environmental Health Division issues permits for household sewage treatment systems under state rules (ORC 3718 and the Ohio Administrative Code's sewage chapter). If you're not on public sewer, you'll need to go through them before installing or altering a system. I didn't find anything specific to composting toilets, so I'd assume they fall under this same sewage framework until Environmental Health tells you otherwise.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting don't have dedicated Pickaway County pages that I could find. They likely default to Ohio's general private water and sewage rules, administered locally by the same Environmental Health Division, but I'd confirm directly since I couldn't verify a distinct county policy either way.

Private wells are clearly regulated: the Environmental Health Division permits and inspects new wells, well replacements, and well sealing under state water system rules. If you're drilling or sealing a well, you need a permit and inspection through them, and a registered contractor must do any sealing work.

As for living fully disconnected from the grid, no electric or gas hookup, I found no Pickaway County or township rule that explicitly requires utility connection. That said, your dwelling still has to clear Ohio Building Code review through the county, and any well or septic system still needs the health department's sign-off. Individual townships may have their own minimum floor area or utility standards buried in their zoning resolutions, which I haven't been able to confirm one way or the other, so that's a call to make to your township zoning inspector.

Bottom line: Pickaway County is workable for off-grid living, but it's really a township-by-township question for zoning and land use, layered under countywide building and health department rules for construction, septic, and wells.