Off-Grid Living in Pacific County, Washington

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Pacific County, Washington, and the honest answer is: it's workable, but the details depend heavily on which zone your parcel sits in and which specific rule you're asking about, since some of these questions simply aren't answered in the county's public documents yet.

Zoning in unincorporated Pacific County is set by the county under its Growth Management Act-mandated comprehensive plan, administered by the Department of Community Development (DCD). Ordinance No. 184 and the county's Zoning Ordinance (drafted as Ordinance No. 194) lay out zoning districts and allowed uses, but what you can do with raw land, camp on it, build a cabin, park an RV long-term, depends entirely on the district your parcel falls into. There's no one-size-fits-all answer; you need to pull your parcel's zoning designation from DCD directly. Note the incorporated towns (South Bend, Raymond, Long Beach, Ilwaco) run their own separate codes.

Dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs are a gray area here. I've seen secondary (non-official) sources claim the county requires an unusually large minimum dwelling size that would rule out most tiny homes as permanent residences, and that RVs/tiny-houses-on-wheels get treated as RVs, not dwellings, similar to the statewide pattern under RCW 35.21.684. But I could not confirm the specific square-footage figure from the county's own ordinance text, so don't take that number as gospel, call DCD and ask for the current adopted definition of "dwelling unit."

Building permits follow the standard path: DCD's Building Division issues permits and inspects against state-mandated building, mechanical, and plumbing codes.

Septic systems (including composting toilets) fall under the Pacific County Board of Health, currently operating under Ordinance No. 3E, which implements the state's on-site sewage code (WAC 246-272A). The state Board of Health revised its septic rules effective April 2025, and Pacific County is in the process of updating its local ordinance to match, so ask DCD's Environmental Health Division which version currently applies.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting don't have county-specific rules that I could find. Both appear to default to the state baseline (WAC 246-274 for greywater, Department of Ecology policy for rainwater).

Wells and water rights are largely a state matter here. Washington Department of Ecology's Southwest Regional Office handles well construction and water-right permitting for Pacific County, with a named well construction coordinator on staff. Most household wells fall under the state's groundwater permit exemption if usage stays under the state's gallons-per-day threshold, but check with Ecology before drilling.

Full utility disconnection isn't separately addressed, banned, or blessed by any county ordinance I found. It comes down to satisfying the building code, on-site sewage, and water supply rules above, the same layered approach you'd see statewide.