Off-Grid Living in McNairy County, Tennessee

I'll be straight with you: McNairy County, Tennessee is one of the harder places for me to pin down with official paperwork. There's no published McNairy County zoning ordinance, building code adoption, or environmental health page that I could find on an official county site. That doesn't mean "anything goes," but it does mean a lot of what I can tell you here defaults to the Tennessee state baseline rather than a specific county rule, and I want to flag that clearly rather than guess at code numbers that don't exist in my research.

Zoning: I found no evidence of a countywide zoning ordinance in McNairy County. Tennessee county zoning is optional under state enabling law (Title 13), and counties only get it if their legislative body actively adopts it. The common pattern in rural West Tennessee counties like this one is no zoning outside town limits (Selmer, Adamsville, Bethel Springs, Michie, Guys). If your land is inside one of those towns, town rules take over and I'd call town hall directly.

Dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs: No McNairy-specific ordinance turned up on tiny homes, Appendix Q, or RV living. Absent a local rule, the state's building code framework and county opt-out authority would govern, but I couldn't confirm which way McNairy has gone.

Building permits: I could not verify whether McNairy County enforces a residential building code or requires permits for construction in unincorporated areas. Commercial directories suggest the small incorporated towns handle their own permitting through city hall, which fits the pattern in small Tennessee counties, but I haven't seen this on an official county page.

Septic: This one I feel more confident about. McNairy is not on the state's list of "contract counties" that run their own septic programs, so septic construction permits go through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), Division of Water Resources, applied for online, with the Jackson Environmental Field Office as your regional contact. There's no dry-cabin exemption I could find, so composting toilets alone likely won't get you out of septic requirements if you have a permanent dwelling.

Greywater: No county-specific rule found. It inherits the state plumbing code and TDEC septic framework by default, and enforcement statewide is inconsistent, so I'd call the field office before assuming anything.

Rainwater: Nothing restricts it at the state or county level as far as I found. Collecting rainwater appears to be unregulated here.

Wells: No McNairy-specific well ordinance surfaced. Private wells fall under Tennessee's statewide Water Well Act, needing a licensed driller, with TDEC's Groundwater Protection program (via the Jackson field office) as the relevant authority for non-contract counties like this one.

Utilities: No county ordinance mandating grid or utility connection was found. Electric disconnection looks unrestricted statewide; water/sewer requirements would depend on how close you are to a municipal system, and a town-level mandatory-connection rule could exist inside Selmer or the other towns, but I couldn't confirm that officially.

My honest recommendation: call the McNairy County Clerk's or Mayor's office directly to ask about zoning and building permits before you buy or build, since the official record online just isn't there yet.