Off-Grid Living in Montour County, Pennsylvania

I've spent a while digging through Montour County, Pennsylvania's official pages and the individual township codes, and here's the honest picture of what I found for anyone thinking about going off-grid here.

Zoning is layered. Montour County has authority under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Article VI, 53 P.S. §10601 et seq.) to enact a county zoning ordinance, and the County Planning Commission is currently updating it. But in practice, the townships, Mahoning, Valley, Montour, Danville Borough, and others, each run their own zoning ordinances under that same state authority. So the honest answer to "can I do X on my land" is: it depends which township you're in, and you need to call that township's zoning office, not just the county.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: I couldn't find any Montour County or township document that specifically addresses tiny houses on wheels or living in an RV full-time. What governs is the state's Uniform Construction Code (UCC) baseline plus whatever "permitted use" language exists in the applicable township zoning ordinance. Mahoning Township's code, for instance, says no land or structure can be used except in conformity with the district it sits in, which is fairly typical and leaves a lot of judgment calls to the zoning officer.

Building permits are enforced locally under the state UCC. Several Montour County municipalities route their permitting and inspections through the Central Keystone Council of Governments (CK-COG), a regional agency that handles this for member towns.

Septic and greywater fall under Pennsylvania's Act 537 sewage facilities program, which requires a local Sewage Enforcement Officer (SEO) to issue permits for any on-lot sewage system, greywater included, since local ordinances (Montour Township's, for example) treat greywater as sewage that must go through the approved system, not a separate DIY setup. I found no county-specific rule for composting toilets; the state NSF Standard 41 baseline would apply, but confirm locally.

Rainwater harvesting has no dedicated county or township ordinance that I could find, for better or worse, this is genuinely unclear territory here. Local sewage rules only mention rainwater in the context of keeping it out of your septic system's absorption area.

Private wells are refreshingly straightforward: Pennsylvania has no statewide well-construction code, and Montour County hasn't adopted its own (some PA counties, like Chester, have). Drillers still need to follow state licensing rules under Act 610.

Utility disconnection (going without grid electric) isn't addressed in any Montour County or township document I found imposing an occupancy requirement to hook up to utilities. That doesn't guarantee freedom from restriction, it just means I couldn't confirm a rule either way, so ask your township directly.

Bottom line: the county sets a broad zoning framework, but your township is where the real answers live.