Off-Grid Living in Campbell County, Tennessee

Campbell County, Tennessee sits up in the northeast corner of the state, and if you're looking at raw land here for an off-grid setup, the picture is a mix of "pretty open" and "check with the state" because the county government just hasn't written its own rules on a lot of this stuff.

Zoning. The big one first: Campbell County has no countywide zoning ordinance. Land use in unincorporated parts of the county runs through the Campbell County Regional Planning Commission, but that's really about subdivision regulations (how you split and plat land), not zoning that dictates what you can build or how you live on it. That's good news if you're worried about a zoning board telling you no to a cabin or a yurt. But if your land is inside La Follette, Jellico, or Rocky Top city limits, forget everything I just said, those towns run their own zoning and it can be stricter.

Dwellings and building permits. Here's the process as I understand it from the county's own site: you need a septic permit before you can even apply for a building permit, and building permits themselves are issued through the Campbell County Clerk's Office, not a separate codes department. I didn't find anything from the county addressing tiny homes, Appendix Q, or RV occupancy specifically, so for now I'd lean on the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance's residential permit guidance as the fallback and ask the Clerk's office directly how they'd treat something unconventional.

Septic. Septic permitting is not handled by a county health department here, it goes through the TDEC Knoxville Environmental Field Office. Campbell isn't one of the state's "contract counties" (places like Knox or Blount that run their own septic programs), so TDEC Knoxville is your one-stop shop. I found no composting toilet exemption on any Campbell County or TDEC page, so assume the state's NSF Standard 41 expectation applies.

Greywater and rainwater. No county-specific rules turned up for either. Greywater falls under Tennessee's general subsurface sewage disposal statutes, and rainwater collection appears unrestricted, following the state's generally permissive stance.

Wells. A lot of the county genuinely lacks public water access, there's even a county initiative ("Project WIN") tracking that gap, which tells me wells and private water sources are a normal part of life out there. Well drilling itself is governed at the state level under Tennessee's Water Well Act, using state-licensed drillers, since I couldn't find a county-specific well ordinance.

Utilities. Same story: no ordinance forcing you to hook up to water, sewer, or power that I could find at the county level. Given how much of Campbell County lacks utility access already, living disconnected looks practically common outside city limits. Inside La Follette, Jellico, or Rocky Top, ask that specific city office.

Bottom line: Campbell County leaves a lot of this to the state and to individual towns, so the county clerk and TDEC Knoxville are your two most important calls before you break ground.