Building permits, zoning and land rules in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

Yes. Assumption Parish requires the owner or authorized agent to apply to the Parish Permit Office before constructing or enlarging a building, changing its occupancy, or undertaking a renovation that exceeds 50% of the work area and requires a code-compliance inspection¹. The Permit Department also issues building and occupancy permits for moving, constructing, remodeling or renovating buildings and mobile homes⁷. Listed exemptions include certain retaining walls no more than 4 feet high, finish work, qualifying above-ground pools, playground equipment, nonfixed movable fixtures and agricultural shade-cloth structures¹. Permitted construction must remain accessible for inspections, including foundation, rough systems, framing, floodplain, energy-efficiency and final inspections as applicable¹. A building cannot be occupied until the building official issues a certificate of compliance and the Permit Office issues the Certificate of Occupancy¹.

The Assumption Parish Permit Office is the local starting point for building and occupancy permits⁷. Its office is at 105 Martin Luther King Drive, Napoleonville, LA 70390, directly behind the Parish Administration Office, and the phone number is 985-369-7386⁸. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m⁸.. The parish page links a Permit Fee Schedule and Permitting Requirements and directs applicants to the Permit Office for details⁹. Louisiana's State Uniform Construction Code applies in Assumption Parish, with statutory limits and amendments¹⁰. A permit application must identify the work and land, state the intended use, occupancy and valuation, include required construction documents and other information, and be signed¹. The building official reviews the filing and must explain a rejection in writing; a conforming application is issued as soon as practicable¹.

Unincorporated Assumption Parish has no zoning ordinance². We could not confirm a general minimum dwelling size, lot-coverage limit or building-height limit in the parish regulations, so ask the Parish Permit Office before drawing plans⁸. Separate land-development regulations still govern development, subdivisions and the construction or placement of residential, commercial and industrial structures outside incorporated areas³. In those developments, a lot with community sewer must be at least 5,000 square feet and meet health, width, setback and parking standards; a lot using onsite sewage must meet State Sanitary Code and Office of Public Health area and width standards³. Mobile-home sites in unincorporated parks or communities must be at least 5,000 square feet and 50 feet wide, with setbacks of 20 feet at the street frontage, 8 feet on each side and 10 feet at the rear³.

Assumption Parish requires public sewerage where it is available; otherwise, an individual sewage system needs a state health officer permit before installation, alteration or operation^4,11. Louisiana administers that permitting through sanitarians in parish health units, so start with the Assumption Parish Health Unit at 4910 LA-308, Napoleonville, LA 70390, or 985.369.6031^4,12. Its Environmental Health Services hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m¹².. Final verification comes from an onsite inspection, a licensed installer's certification, or both, and the certification must be submitted within 15 days after completion¹³. Site feasibility is a serious issue: 0% of Assumption Parish's mapped soils avoid severe limitations for a conventional drain field¹⁴. A sewage tank must be at least 50 feet from a well or other water source, while disposal fields and lines must be at least 100 feet away¹¹. For an individual mechanical wastewater system, the state health office releases utilities after certification and the state identification tag go to the local health unit and the permit is finalized, so plan power hookup around that step¹.

We found no rule in Assumption Parish that specifically addresses tiny-home occupancy on private land, so confirm with the Parish Permit Office; a tiny home that is a dwelling still falls under the parish building permit and occupancy approval rules^1,8. In approved campgrounds and RV parks, tents, camping trailers and RVs are temporary living quarters on short-term spaces³. Guests generally may stay no longer than 180 days and then must leave for another 180 days unless the Assumption Parish Police Jury approves otherwise³. Manufactured or mobile homes are not allowed in those campgrounds or RV parks³. Those commercial-park rules do not establish whether someone may live long-term in an RV on an ordinary private parcel, so ask the Parish Permit Office before relying on that use⁸. A guest house must remain accessory to the principal structure, meet applicable health and floodplain codes, obtain required permits and sewerage approval, and cannot be rented separately from the main house³. Inside a manufactured or mobile home park, a utility company may not connect electrical service to a mobile home without a stamped development permit from the Parish Permit Office¹⁵.

1. Call the Parish Permit Office with the parcel location and proposed use, and ask which land-development and floodplain requirements apply^8,11.

1. Confirm sewer availability; if public sewer is unavailable, begin the state health approval process through the Assumption Parish Health Unit before fixing the site plan^4,12.

1. If you will act as owner-builder, prepare the required exemption affidavit; the contractor-license exemption does not remove parish permit or inspection duties⁵.

1. File the signed parish application with the project description, land location, intended occupancy, valuation and required construction documents¹.

1. Obtain the building permit and any required special-flood-hazard development permit before work begins^1,11.

1. For a development governed by the parish land-development rules, obtain Police Jury approval by permit for the size and grade of driveway culverts or other pipe in roadside ditches³.

1. Keep work exposed at each inspection point and complete septic verification before occupancy approval^1,13.

Check sewer and soils before committing to a house site. Public sewer must be used where available, individual systems require state approval, and 0% of mapped parish soils avoid severe conventional drain-field limitations^4,11,14. Check the current flood map and proposed building pad because development in special flood-hazard areas under Police Jury jurisdiction requires a development permit¹¹. Published floodplain development-permit fees are $10 for a residential mobile home and $20 for other residential construction¹¹. Verify road ownership and drainage access; covered unincorporated developments need Police Jury approval for driveway-culvert size and grade, while a state-highway connection needs LaDOTD approval before construction^3,16. For water, Louisiana generally uses notification and registration rather than a state well permit outside the Capital Area Ground Water District; ordinary domestic wells use post-construction notification within 60 days^6,17.