Off-Grid Living in Monongalia County, West Virginia

I've been digging into Monongalia County, West Virginia for off-grid prospects, and the headline fact is unusual: this county has no countywide zoning ordinance. Under West Virginia's enabling statute (WV Code §8A), counties can choose to zone all, part, or none of their territory, unlike cities which must zone everything. Monongalia County Commission has only adopted one actual zoning district, the West Run Planning District, plus a separate tower ordinance. Everything else in unincorporated Monongalia County sits outside any county zoning map. That's confirmed by the Monongalia County Planning Commission's own ordinances page.

What that means practically: if your land is outside West Run, county zoning isn't going to be the thing that stops you from occupying raw land. But "unzoned" doesn't mean "unregulated." Floodplain rules still apply where relevant, and septic, well, and sanitation rules apply countywide regardless of zoning, administered by the Monongalia County Health Department's Environmental Health division.

On dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs, I couldn't find an official county page that spells out standards for these outside West Run. Some commercial guides claim the county broadly "allows tiny homes," but I couldn't verify that on an official county source, so I'm treating it as unconfirmed. Inside West Run specifically, the local ordinance does require review by the Planning Commission and at minimum a Land Use Permit for construction, enlargement, or change of use.

Building codes are similarly patchy. West Virginia has a State Building Code (Title 87 Series 4), but the county itself doesn't enforce it locally, per the Planning Commission's FAQ. The City of Morgantown is different: it runs its own Building Department and enforces its own code within city limits, so if your parcel is inside Morgantown, that changes everything.

For septic, the Health Department is your go-to, and Monongalia is flagged as one of the counties excepted from the state's standard online Home Aeration Unit permit path, meaning that permitting runs through the local office rather than a portal. Greywater isn't addressed separately at the county level as far as I can tell, it inherits whatever the state Bureau for Public Health sewage design standards say. Rainwater harvesting has no county ordinance touching it either, so it follows the state's generally unregulated baseline.

Wells go through the same Health Department, consistent with the statewide rule that a Local Health Department permit and a licensed well driller are required before drilling.

Utility disconnection (going without hookups) isn't explicitly addressed by county ordinance. Water and sewer service is patchy and handled by local Public Service Districts or the Morgantown Utility Board only in certain areas, so outside those service areas, going off-grid on water and sewer looks like a practical necessity rather than a violation, though I'd call that unconfirmed as formal policy.

Bottom line: call the Planning Office to confirm whether your specific parcel is inside West Run or city limits, and call the Health Department for anything septic, well, or greywater related.