Off-Grid Living in Wasatch County, Utah

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Wasatch County, Utah, and the short version is: this is not one of those rural counties where zoning is an afterthought. Wasatch County has adopted countywide zoning, which the county's own Planning Department confirms means every parcel sits in a zoning district that dictates land use, including whether you can park an RV or pitch a yurt on raw land long-term. That's a meaningful difference from counties with no zoning at all, so don't assume "rural = anything goes."

On dwellings, I couldn't find an official Wasatch County page laying out specific tiny-house or full-time-RV-living standards. Some secondhand commentary says the county has no dedicated tiny-house rules and tells people to check local zoning, but that's not an official source, just a pointer to the real gap. My take: for anything on a permanent foundation, expect the state's residential building code to be the baseline, administered locally by the county Building Department. For RVs as year-round residences, treat it as unconfirmed and call Planning before you commit.

Building permits run through the Wasatch County Building Department, and the application packet is specific: if your property is on septic, you need a septic letter as part of the submission, along with site and landscape plans. This is county process layered on the state building code (the state sets the baseline; the county administers it).

Septic and wastewater are gatekept by the county Health Department, which requires a wastewater permit application referencing the state's R317-4 rules. If you're on a well, you need a well permit or application; if you're on public water, you need a letter of approval, and letters from systems the state rates "Not Approved" won't cut it. The Health Department is explicit that it does not design your system for you, and permits are only valid for a limited window from approval, so timing matters. Greywater has no distinct county rule that I could find, so it likely falls back to the state's greywater rule administered through the local health department. Rainwater harvesting looks permitted, following the state's rainwater collection law, with no Wasatch-specific restriction turned up in my research.

Wells are where the county adds its own twist beyond state water-rights process: reporting from a county commission meeting indicates a minimum lot size (five acres, with discussion of lowering to four) for a culinary well, and smaller parcels may need a voluntary no-further-subdivide deed plus water board and fire district sign-off. I want to flag that this acreage rule comes from meeting coverage, not an official ordinance page, so confirm it directly with Planning or the Health Department before you buy land banking on a well.

Bottom line on utilities: going off-grid for power doesn't seem separately restricted, but your certificate of occupancy is tied to proving an approved water source and, if applicable, an approved septic system, so you can't skip those even if you're generating your own electricity.