Off-Grid Living in Centre County, Pennsylvania

If you're looking at raw land in Centre County, Pennsylvania and hoping for one clean set of off-grid rules, I have to be upfront: there isn't one. Centre County has no countywide zoning ordinance and no countywide building code office. Pennsylvania's Municipalities Planning Code lets each of the county's 35 boroughs and townships write and enforce its own zoning and building rules, and when a municipality has no ordinance, county-level defaults from that same state code kick in. In practice, that means almost every off-grid question here resolves to "it depends which township you're in."

Zoning. The Centre County Planning and Community Development Office administers county planning duties under the state's Municipalities Planning Code, but zoning authority itself sits with the individual township or borough. Boggs, Walker, Penn, and the rest can each have their own zoning map and ordinance, and some may have none at all. You need to call the specific township.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I found no county-level rule addressing tiny homes or RV living. This is governed by whatever zoning ordinance your township has adopted, layered on top of the statewide Uniform Construction Code (UCC).

Building permits. Pennsylvania requires most municipalities to enforce the UCC, and the state reports that the large majority of Pennsylvania's municipalities administer it themselves or contract it out to a certified third-party agency. Where a municipality has opted out, the state Department of Labor and Industry handles commercial enforcement while owners hire a certified third-party agency for residential work. Boggs Township, for example, adopted the UCC and uses a third-party agency; your township could look different.

Septic and composting toilets. This is state-driven but locally administered: under the state Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) and the related state code chapters, every township or borough designates its own certified Sewage Enforcement Officer (SEO), and no structure can legally be occupied before the septic system is inspected and approved. Centre County doesn't run this through a county health department, so you're dealing with a local SEO.

Greywater. Greywater is treated as sewage under that same state framework, enforced locally by SEOs. I found no Centre County-specific greywater ordinance carving out an exception.

Rainwater harvesting. No county ordinance on this was found either way, so the state default applies: rainwater generally can't stand in as your sole approved water supply for a permanent residence.

Wells. No Centre County well permit requirement turned up in official searches. Well drilling falls under the state's driller licensing and reporting system, though some townships fold well or plumbing requirements into their building permit process, so it's worth asking locally.

Utility disconnection. Whether you can legally live off the electric or water grid comes down to your township's zoning and building ordinance and however it enforces occupancy requirements. There's no countywide mandate either way.

The honest bottom line: start with your township office, not the county, for anything involving zoning, building permits, or occupancy.