Off-Grid Living in Monroe County, West Virginia

I've spent a good chunk of time digging through Monroe County, West Virginia's official records, and I want to be upfront: this is a county without a traditional zoning map. What Monroe County uses instead is an Improvement Location Permit (ILP) system, which the Monroe County Commission has been developing under the authority of West Virginia Code Chapter 8A (the state's Land Use Planning Act). If you're eyeing raw land here for an off-grid build, that ILP process, run through the county's Planning Commission and Building Commission, is your starting point rather than a zoning district lookup.

On dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs specifically, I couldn't find a Monroe County ordinance that spells out rules for these structure types. That doesn't mean anything goes, it means the general ILP permitting requirement likely applies to any new structure, but the county hasn't published specifics I could confirm. Call the Planning Commission before you commit to a THOW or RV as a permanent residence.

Building permits do run through that same ILP ordinance countywide, and the county is explicit that flood-prone parcels face additional, more stringent requirements under the Monroe County Floodplain Ordinance. Skipping the permit can get you a stop-work order, so this isn't a paperwork formality to blow off.

Septic systems are regulated, and this is one area where the authority is crystal clear: the Monroe County Board of Health administers onsite sewage permitting under the state's rule (WV Code 64CSR30), with fees set through the Board of Health and approved by the County Commission. Composting toilets aren't addressed separately in anything I found, so I'd ask the Health Department directly how they treat those.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting are both areas where Monroe County has no published local ordinance. That means you're defaulting to the state baseline, which for rainwater is essentially unregulated for non-potable uses, and for greywater falls back to Bureau for Public Health standards administered locally.

Private wells fall under the state's Water Well Certification Program (64CSR19), with the county Health Department as your local point of contact rather than a separate county well ordinance. And on living fully off-grid without utility hookups: I didn't find a standalone mandate forcing a grid connection. But don't read that as a free pass, since the ILP ordinance ties any dwelling approval back to proper water supply and sewage disposal being confirmed with the County Sanitarian.

Bottom line: Monroe County is relatively light on written off-grid-specific rules, but that also means more depends on direct conversations with the Commission, Health Department, and Planning Commission than on reading a code book.