Building permits, zoning and land rules in Greene County, Indiana

Greene County states that the only county permit required to plan, build, renovate or remodel residential or commercial property is a septic permit¹. That does not make Greene County code-free: the state-adopted Indiana Residential Code applies to one- and two-family dwellings, and the Indiana Building Code covers its listed building scope². The residential code currently in effect is the 2020 edition, built on the 2018 International Residential Code². Indiana assigns inspection of one- and two-family dwellings to local government; public and commercial structures are inspected locally and/or by the Office of the State Building Commissioner when the local unit lacks an approved ordinance and building department³. State filing requirements depend on project classification and exemptions, and an exemption from state filing does not itself settle local permitting⁹. We could not confirm a separate owner-builder exemption or generally applicable certificate-of-occupancy rule. A building used only for farming on the land where it stands is not a Class 1 structure under the state's classification¹⁰. Ask the county's general government contact about an unusual use or classification.

For septic, call the Greene County Health Department's Environmental Health – Habitation Division, which permits and inspects every onsite sewage system, new or repaired, in the county⁵. You can reach that office at 217 E Spring St., Suite 1, Bloomfield, IN 47424, phone (812) 384-4496, email health@co.greene.in.us⁵. For anything else that touches county government, including a subdivision plat outside a city or town's limits, the Greene County Auditor's Office at 1 E Main St., Bloomfield, IN 47424 is the general contact point, and it can direct you to the board of county commissioners, who approve subdivision plats under Indiana law^1,11.

Greene County states that unincorporated areas are not subject to county planning or zoning ordinances¹. That means there is no county zoning-permit step for an unincorporated parcel¹. It does not establish the rules inside an incorporated city or town, so verify the parcel's jurisdiction before relying on the county answer. We could not confirm separate county standards for minimum lot size, setbacks, building height, lot coverage or minimum dwelling size. For a subdivision plat or an unusual land division, start with the Greene County Auditor's Office, which can direct you to the board of county commissioners¹. Floodway jurisdiction is separate from zoning: Indiana DNR approval may be required for construction, fill, excavation or another obstruction in a qualifying mapped floodway¹².

Every residential and commercial onsite sewage system in Greene County goes through the Health Department's Environmental Health – Habitation Division⁴. You'll need a certified soil evaluation, a signed application with your parcel ID, and a floor plan for new construction; minimum specifications come back within 15 business days of a complete application, and the permit itself issues within 30 business days once your installer submits an approved design⁵. The application fee is $150 for new construction or a modification and $50 for a repair, and there's a $500 penalty fee if construction or a mobile-home placement starts before the permit is issued⁵. State rule requires a written construction permit, signed by the health officer, before building a residential onsite system on any dwelling not connected to a sanitary sewer¹³. Soil is worth taking seriously here: only about 4.4% of Greene County's soils carry no severe limits for a conventional septic drain field, so budget for an engineered or alternative system on much of the county's ground¹⁴. Statewide, Indiana bans drywells and cesspools outright and caps a holding tank used as your main disposal method at one year unless you document it's working properly¹⁵.

Greene County has no county zoning ordinance for unincorporated land, but that fact alone does not confirm that full-time RV or tiny-home occupancy is allowed¹. We could not confirm a Greene County rule that expressly addresses either use, so ask the Greene County Health Department how the proposed wastewater arrangement would be treated before buying or moving a unit onto the parcel⁵. Indiana recognizes manufactured homes as suitable dwelling units, subject to applicable health, sanitation, building-code and local requirements⁶. Indiana's campground limits answer a different question: a regulated campground may have no more than one recreational vehicle or vacation mobile home on a designated campsite, while temporary-campground operation is time-limited⁷. Those campground rules do not authorize long-term residence in an RV on ordinary private land⁷.

1. Confirm that the parcel is unincorporated; Greene County has no county zoning and requires only a septic permit, but municipal rules may differ¹.
2. Identify the structure's code and inspection path before work begins: Indiana's residential and building codes apply statewide, while inspection responsibility differs for one- and two-family dwellings and public or commercial structures^2,3.
3. Check whether the building site or access work lies in a mapped floodway, because qualifying construction, fill or excavation may need Indiana DNR approval¹².
4. Get a certified soil evaluation and file the onsite sewage application with the Greene County Health Department, including a floor plan for new construction⁵.
5. Have the septic installer submit the required design cover page and drawing; the county issues permits within 30 business days after receiving that complete package⁵.
6. Give the Health Department at least 24 hours' notice before excavation and 48 hours' notice before covering the system⁵.

Start with wastewater and flood exposure. Only about 4.4% of Greene County's soils have no severe limits for a conventional septic drain field, even though 73.9% of the land has a slope of 15% or less, so gentle ground does not guarantee an easy septic site¹⁴. In a qualifying mapped floodway, Indiana DNR may require prior approval for construction, fill, excavation or another obstruction; floodplain-fringe work receives no state review, but local floodplain rules and federal flood-insurance requirements may still apply¹². Also confirm legal access and ask the appropriate road authority about any driveway approval, because we could not confirm a Greene County-specific driveway rule. For carrying costs, the typical home insurance premium is about $1,534 a year, the effective property tax rate is about 0.7%, and the median annual property tax bill is about $895¹⁴. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is about 65 miles from the county's center¹⁴.