Off-Grid Living in Cocke County, Tennessee

I've spent a while digging through Cocke County, Tennessee's official pages and the county's own zoning resolution, and this one surprised me. Cocke County recently did something a lot of rural Tennessee counties haven't: it adopted countywide zoning. That changes the off-grid calculus here compared to neighboring "no zoning" counties.

Zoning. The Cocke County Legislative Body passed a countywide zoning resolution (adopted under the state's general zoning enabling statutes, Tennessee Code Annotated Title 13), creating districts including an A-1 agricultural zone with lot-size and use rules. This is administered by the Cocke County Regional Planning Commission and the county's Building Commissioner. If you're eyeing raw land here, don't assume "rural Tennessee = no rules." Check the district your parcel sits in before you buy.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. The zoning resolution specifically defines and regulates tiny home parks (three or more units on a lease basis, on a lot over five acres per the ordinance) and RV parks. Units in those parks need a Tennessee Modular Building Label showing compliance with state building and electrical codes. A single tiny home on your own lot, not in a park, looks like it just goes through ordinary zoning and site-plan review, but I haven't confirmed whether Cocke County has separately adopted or opted out of the IRC's Appendix Q (the tiny-house appendix). Ask the Zoning Department directly.

Building permits. Here's the twist: the county's own zoning department page states plainly that Cocke County does not currently require a building permit or certificate of occupancy for construction. But that doesn't mean anything goes. You still need other approvals before you build or use property, including a Development Permit from the Floodplain Administrator, and setbacks are enforced. The Building Commissioner handles permits for agricultural and single/multi-family projects; anything else goes to the Planning Commission.

Septic and composting toilets. No county exemption here. Septic design, installation, and permitting follow the statewide Tennessee On-Site Sewage Program run by TDEC, with the permit process itself administered locally through the Cocke County Health Department's Environmental Health division. I found no dry-cabin or composting-toilet carve-out, so assume the state baseline applies (NSF 41 certified units, no exemption for skipping a permitted system in a habitable structure).

Greywater and rainwater. No Cocke County-specific rule turned up for either. Rainwater collection appears unrestricted, following the general state baseline. Greywater would fall under the state plumbing code framework via TDH/TDEC, but I couldn't confirm local implementation, so ask the Health Department before setting up a greywater system.

Wells. No separate county well authority. Wells fall under Tennessee's statewide Water Well Act, tracked through TDEC's Division of Water Resources.

Off-grid utilities. No ordinance found forcing hookup to electric, water, or sewer. Given there's no building permit requirement, there's likely no local mechanism to force utility connections the way some city codes do, but you still need a compliant septic or wastewater system regardless of whether you're on the grid.

Bottom line: Cocke County's zoning is newer and more active than you might expect, even though building permits themselves aren't required yet. Confirm everything with the offices below before committing to a plan.