Building permits, zoning and land rules in Butler County, Nebraska

At a glance

Building permit

No formal county building department, but the county's FAQ describes a building-permit plan-submission process, and Nebraska's default 2018 state code applies by default²³⁴

Zoning

No zoning in force countywide; a five-district rural zoning ordinance and a development moratorium are proposed but not yet adopted¹⁶⁷

Septic

State DEE/DWEE Onsite Wastewater Program permit or registration required statewide; no county septic office⁸⁵

Owner-builder

Doing your own construction work exempts you from Nebraska's Contractor Registration Act, but not from any applicable building or septic permit⁹¹⁰

Farm buildings

Construction on a farm or for farm purposes is exempt from the state building code, and farm buildings on a 20+ acre farmstead earning $1,000+ a year can be exempt from county zoning too¹¹¹²

Manufactured homes

If Butler County adopts zoning, state law would let the county board require a 900-square-foot minimum and site-built-style standards for manufactured homes¹³

Driveway access

A driveway connecting to a state highway needs a Nebraska Department of Transportation permit¹⁴

Who to call

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on September 24, 2026.

Do you need a building permit in Butler County, Nebraska?

Butler County has no county building department and no adopted local building code, so the county isn't the office enforcing construction standards on unincorporated land². That doesn't mean nothing applies: Nebraska's state building code — the 2018 International Building Code, International Residential Code, International Existing Building Code, and Uniform Plumbing Code — automatically applies in any county that hasn't adopted its own qualifying code within two years of a state-code update, though it does not apply to construction on a farm or for farm purposes⁴¹⁵. Butler County's own FAQ page also describes what a building-permit application must include — two identical sets of plans covering the plot plan, footing, wall, roof and floor details — which suggests the county does process some form of building-permit application despite having no dedicated building department³. No official source in this research names which county office reviews or issues that permit, or whether inspections follow it — ask the County Clerk's Office, which handles the county's general correspondence and Planning Commission business¹⁶.

Who handles building permits in Butler County, and how do you reach them?

Butler County has no separate building or zoning department, so the County Clerk's Office is the closest thing to a front door for a building-permit question¹⁶. Reach the Clerk's Office at 451 N. 5th Street, David City, NE 68632, phone 402-367-7430, email [email protected]¹⁶. The County Clerk also serves as secretary to the County Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission, so the same office is your starting point for questions about the comprehensive-plan process or the county's proposed zoning¹⁶. If your project is agricultural — a farm building on working farmland — the state building code doesn't apply to it at all, so you may not need a state permit either¹¹.

Does Butler County have zoning?

Butler County has no zoning ordinance in force today — the county's own procurement and planning materials describe it as one of the last remaining Nebraska counties with no zoning regulations at all¹¹⁷. In practice that means unincorporated Butler County currently has no county-set setbacks or lot-coverage limits, though municipal zoning, floodplain rules and septic requirements still apply where they exist¹⁸¹⁹. That's changing: the Butler County Planning Commission is developing a comprehensive plan and has published a proposed rural zoning ordinance with five districts — AG-1 Agriculture, AGR Agricultural Residential, R-1 Residential (for the unincorporated communities of Loma and Edholm), RC Rural Conservation, and HC Highway Corridor — none of which is adopted yet⁶. The County Board has also approved a temporary development moratorium as Resolution 2026-07 tied to that same planning process — ask the County Clerk's Office whether it's still in effect before you plan a build⁷¹⁶. If Butler County does adopt zoning, Nebraska law lets the county board require manufactured homes to meet the same foundation, setback and minimum-square-footage standards as a site-built home, including a floor area of at least 900 square feet¹³.

How do septic permits work in Butler County?

There's no Butler County septic office — Nebraska's Department of Environment and Energy runs the Onsite Wastewater Program statewide, including in Butler County, under Title 124⁵⁸. Only 16.7% of Butler County's soils are rated without severe limitations for a conventional septic drain field, so many properties will need a professionally designed system²⁰. Most typical single-family systems are built under Nebraska's "Authorization by Rule," which doesn't require a separate state construction permit — but every system must still be registered with the Department, and a site-specific permit is required when a system is unusually large, handles non-domestic waste, or has siting problems²¹. If you're subdividing land and any resulting lot under three acres will use an onsite system, the state requires a separate subdivision review before construction²². Have your installer or an engineer certify the completed system before you use it — Nebraska law requires inspection by a certified professional, a licensed engineer, or a registered environmental health specialist²³.

Can you live in an RV or tiny home on your land in Butler County?

No official Butler County or Nebraska source in this research establishes a right to live long-term in an RV on private land here — this is genuinely unconfirmed, and worth asking the County Clerk's Office directly before you buy¹⁶. Nebraska's camping statute only addresses camping on state or county public highways, roadside areas and parks; it requires a designated campsite there and makes unauthorized camping a misdemeanor, but it says nothing about camping or RV living on your own private land²⁴. A factory-built tiny house on wheels can be classified and labeled as a Nebraska "park trailer" if it's no larger than 430 square feet in setup mode, meets ANSI A119.5, and passes Public Service Commission plan review — but that classification is about the structure, not permission to live in it on a specific Butler County parcel²⁵. Because Butler County has no zoning today, there's no county zoning rule currently blocking either use, but that could change once the county's in-progress comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance are adopted¹⁶.

Building a home in Butler County: the steps, in order

1. Call the Butler County Clerk's Office at 402-367-7430 to ask what, if anything, the county requires for your specific project — Butler County has no formal building department, but its FAQ describes a building-permit plan submission¹⁶³.
2. If you're building a farm structure for agricultural use, confirm the farm-purposes exemption applies, since Nebraska's state building code doesn't reach construction on a farm or for farm purposes¹¹.
3. For any non-farm structure, check whether Nebraska's default state building code applies, since Butler County hasn't adopted its own local code⁴.
4. Register your septic system with Nebraska DEE/DWEE and confirm whether you need a site-specific permit or qualify for Authorization by Rule; call the Onsite Wastewater Program at (402) 471-4285²²²¹.
5. Check your soils before you design a drain field — only 16.7% of Butler County's soils are rated without severe limits for a conventional system²⁰.
6. If your driveway connects to a state highway, apply for a Nebraska Department of Transportation driveway permit before you build it¹⁴.
7. If any part of the site is in a mapped floodplain, get a floodplain development permit before construction — it applies to additions as well as new structures²⁶.
8. Ask the County Clerk's Office whether the county's temporary development moratorium (Resolution 2026-07) affects your parcel before you finalize plans¹⁶⁷.

What to check before you buy land in Butler County

Butler County is flat, open farm country — 93.7% of the land sits at 15% slope or less and only 5.7% is wooded, so don't expect tree cover or difficult grading, but do expect wind and sun exposure²⁷²⁸. Farmland here is valuable, trading around $6,462 an acre, well above the price of rougher land elsewhere in the region²⁹. The county sees real drought risk — severe drought has hit about 17.6% of years on record, and annual precipitation averages only 29.6 inches, so a reliable well matters more here than in wetter counties³⁰³¹. Butler County is also close to the Omaha/Lincoln corridor: the nearest metro area is about 37 miles away³². A typical home here is valued around $248,755, with a median property tax bill of about $1,941 a year at an effective rate of 1.2%, and typical homeowners insurance runs about $2,209 a year^33343536. Before you close, confirm your parcel isn't caught by the county's temporary development moratorium, check the soil survey for your specific site before counting on a conventional septic system, and ask whether the county's in-progress zoning ordinance would change what you can build⁷²⁰⁶.

Watch-outs

• Butler County's own FAQ describes a building-permit application process even though the county has no formal building department — don't assume "no zoning" means "no permit"; call the County Clerk's Office to ask where to submit plans³¹⁶.
• Nebraska's camping statute governs public highways, roadside areas and parks, not private land — it isn't a yes-or-no answer for RV living on your own Butler County parcel²⁴.
• Butler County's five proposed zoning districts (AG-1, AGR, R-1, RC, HC) are not adopted — don't plan a build around them as if they were already in force⁶.

Sources

1. Butler County Planning Commission (2026 county census)
2. Butler County Planning Commission (2026 county census)
3. Frequently Asked Questions – Butler County, quoted and re-checked
4. Nebraska Revised Statute 71-6403, quoted and re-checked
5. Onsite Wastewater Program (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
6. Butler County, Nebraska, Rural Community Zoning Districts – Proposed July 2026, quoted and re-checked
7. Request for Proposals for Professional Services: Comprehensive Plan Development, quoted and re-checked
8. NDEE Onsite Wastewater Program (2026 county census)
9. Nebraska Revised Statute 48-2104 — Registration required (2026 county census)
10. Nebraska Revised Statute 48-2104 — Registration required (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
11. Nebraska Revised Statute 71-6406, quoted and re-checked
12. Nebraska Revised Statute 23-114.03 (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
13. Nebraska Revised Statute 23-114 (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
14. Title 410, Chapter 2 - Driveway and Approach Road Permits (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
15. Nebraska Revised Statute 71-6403: State building code; adopted; amendments (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
16. Butler County Clerk's Office (butlercountyne.gov)
17. Request for Proposals for Professional Services – Comprehensive Plan Development, quoted and re-checked
18. Butler County Planning Commission Minutes – February 11, 2026, quoted and re-checked
19. Request for Proposals for Professional Services – Comprehensive Plan Development, quoted and re-checked
20. Share of soils without severe limits for a conventional septic drain field (USDA SSURGO): Bolthole Index county data
21. Onsite Wastewater Treatment Facilities Program Overview, quoted and re-checked
22. Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, Onsite Wastewater Program (dwee.nebraska.gov)
23. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-15,248 (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
24. Nebraska Revised Statute 39-312 — Camping; permitted; where; violation; penalty (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
25. Nebraska Tiny House Regulation, quoted and re-checked
26. Floodplain Management Q&A: Permits (Nebraska statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
27. Share of land at 15% slope or less: Bolthole Index county data
28. Wooded share of land: Bolthole Index county data
29. Farmland value per acre (USDA census): Bolthole Index county data
30. Share of years in severe drought: Bolthole Index county data
31. Annual precipitation: Bolthole Index county data
32. Distance to the nearest metro area: Bolthole Index county data
33. Typical home value (Zillow): Bolthole Index county data
34. Median property tax bill: Bolthole Index county data
35. Effective property tax rate: Bolthole Index county data
36. Typical home insurance premium: Bolthole Index county data

Written September 24, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.