Off-Grid Living in Lane County, Oregon

I've spent a good chunk of time digging through Lane County, Oregon's rules for anyone thinking about living off-grid out here, and the short version is: it's doable, but Lane County is not a place where you can just buy a wooded parcel and disappear into the trees. The county has full zoning authority (not every Oregon county does), and it runs its own Planning, Building, and On-Site Wastewater programs all under one roof, the Land Management Division (LMD).

Zoning is the first gate. Rural land is mapped under the county's Rural Comprehensive Plan into Rural Residential zones (RR1, RR2, RR5, RR10) or other designations like Exclusive Farm Use or Forest, each with its own dwelling and minimum-parcel rules under Lane Code Chapter 16. You can't just occupy raw land; the zoning has to allow a dwelling in the first place.

Dwellings and RVs got more flexible recently. Lane County opted into Oregon's SB 1013 program, so as of February 2025 some Rural Residential properties can add a rental RV, as long as it's outside the floodplain and has an adequate water supply. The county also passed its own ordinance (2023) allowing ADUs on Rural Residential land under state SB 391, generally requiring at least two acres. Tiny homes on wheels get treated like RVs, though I'd confirm that directly since it's not spelled out in writing.

Building permits run through LMD's Building Program, and importantly, permits can be denied if your water supply hasn't gotten state/county sign-off, so "going off-grid" doesn't mean skipping that step. A few tiny accessory structures under 200 square feet skip the building permit, but you still need zoning and sanitation approval regardless.

Septic is handled in-house by Lane County's On-Site Wastewater program (DEQ-authorized), and you apply for that permit before or alongside your building permit. Composting toilets alone, without a backup wastewater plan, aren't clearly addressed on county pages, so that's one to call and ask about directly.

Greywater rules aren't clearly published at the county level; it likely defaults to Oregon DEQ's statewide tiered permit system, but I couldn't confirm whether Lane County administers it locally.

Rainwater harvesting is fine under state exemptions, and small tanks under 5,000 gallons skip a building permit entirely per county code.

Wells fall under the Oregon Water Resources Department, not a separate county process; domestic use under 15,000 gallons/day is exempt from a water-rights permit, and Lane County sits in OWRD's Water District 2.

Bottom line on utilities: disconnecting from the grid isn't illegal, but building anything permit-worthy still means satisfying Planning, Sanitation, and Building in sequence.