Off-Grid Living in Franklin County, Tennessee

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Franklin County, Tennessee, the one out near Winchester, not the City of Franklin up by Nashville (that's a different county, Williamson, and a lot of search results mix the two up). Here's what I found from official sources, and where I hit gaps, I'll say so plainly.

Zoning first. Unlike a lot of rural Tennessee counties that have no zoning at all, Franklin County actually does have an adopted Zoning Resolution covering unincorporated land, administered by the county's Planning and Zoning Department along with a Regional Planning Commission and a Board of Zoning Appeals. That's a meaningful difference from the "wide open" reputation rural TN counties sometimes have. If you're eyeing raw land here, don't assume anything goes, call Planning and Zoning first.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. This is one of the fuzzier areas. I couldn't find a Franklin County page that specifically spells out rules for tiny homes or living in an RV. Tennessee as a state adopted the 2018 IRC, which includes Appendix Q for site-built tiny homes, but counties can opt out of that appendix, and tiny homes on wheels generally get treated as RVs rather than dwellings under state practice. Whether Franklin County has opted in or out isn't confirmed in what I found, so this is a call-and-ask situation.

Building permits. Franklin County does require building permits, that's confirmed on the county's own site, which lists a fee schedule and the standard building codes it has adopted. This is worth flagging because some counties in Tennessee skip permitting altogether; Franklin County isn't one of them.

Septic. Septic systems statewide, including here, fall under the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's On-Site Sewage Program. What's not confirmed is whether Franklin County has its own local health department handling applications or whether it routes through a TDEC field office directly. Either way, expect a permit requirement for any septic system.

Greywater and rainwater. No county-specific ordinance turned up for either. Tennessee's plumbing code technically allows greywater reuse for subsurface irrigation with proper tanks and filtration, and there's no statewide restriction on collecting rainwater. Local enforcement details for Franklin County specifically just aren't spelled out anywhere I could find.

Wells. Wells are governed by the state's Water Well Act, which requires a licensed driller and a Notice of Intent filed with TDEC before drilling. No added Franklin County setback or permit layer was found on top of that.

Utility disconnection. No Franklin County rule requires hooking up to public water or sewer even where it's available in unincorporated areas, but if you're building a permitted structure, you'll still need an approved septic and water solution to get that permit. Going off-grid electrically is unrestricted statewide.

Bottom line: Franklin County is more regulated than the "no zoning, no problem" rural TN stereotype, so treat every step, land use, building, septic, as something to confirm directly with the county before you commit.