Off-Grid Living in Hickman County, Tennessee

If you're looking at raw land in Hickman County, Tennessee, thinking you'll just build off-grid and be left alone, I want to correct a common assumption first: unlike a lot of rural Middle Tennessee counties that never adopted zoning, Hickman County actually has a countywide zoning resolution, kept current as of a March 2025 update. That's a real, enforced ordinance, not a "no zoning here" situation, so it changes the baseline compared to some neighboring counties.

Zoning. The Hickman County Zoning Resolution limits a general residential lot to one principal building plus customary accessory buildings. There's a notable exception for agricultural land: parcels over fifteen acres used for farming can have up to two additional dwelling units for immediate family or full-time farm employees. If you're planning a multi-structure homestead, that acreage exception matters a lot.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I could not confirm official county language on tiny homes or RVs as permanent dwellings, whether they've adopted Appendix Q, or specific RV occupancy limits. The one-principal-building rule would apply to any second structure you want to live in, so I'd call the Hickman County Planning and Zoning office before you buy a tiny home or plan to live in an RV full time.

Building permits. The zoning resolution references an Office of Planning and Zoning that handles at least tower and structure permits after Planning Commission approval, so a permitting apparatus clearly exists. Whether an ordinary house in the unincorporated county needs a full IRC-based building permit isn't confirmed from what I found. Tennessee lets counties opt out of state residential code enforcement, so this really is a "call and ask" situation.

Septic. This is state-controlled. Tennessee's TDEC Division of Water Resources handles septic (subsurface sewage disposal) permitting statewide, and neighboring county health departments now direct applicants to apply online through TDEC rather than locally. No Hickman-specific composting-toilet exemption turned up, so I'd assume the standard state approval process (including NSF-41 standards for alternative systems) applies.

Greywater and rainwater. No county-specific rules found for either. Rainwater harvesting is not restricted at the state level and nothing in Hickman's zoning resolution touches it. Greywater falls under Tennessee's general plumbing code framework by default; local enforcement practice is unclear.

Wells. Governed by the statewide Tennessee Water Well Act of 1963: drillers and pump/treatment installers must be licensed by the state's Well Driller Supervision Program. Part of Hickman County is served by the regional Water Authority of Dickson County, but outside that service area, private wells fall under state law only.

Utility disconnection. No ordinance found requiring hookup to public water or sewer. The county does publish a potable water map suggesting some areas have piped infrastructure, but I couldn't confirm a mandatory-connection rule at the county level.

Bottom line: Hickman County is more regulated on land use than some of its rural neighbors, but a lot of the day-to-day off-grid details (tiny homes, building permits, greywater) aren't nailed down in what's publicly available, so a phone call to the county planning office is genuinely necessary here, not just a formality.