Swoyersville, PA Building Permits, Zoning & Septic Rules

Swoyersville Borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania has its own zoning chapter, with a zoning officer and a zoning hearing board¹; the Luzerne County zoning office is not the first stop inside the borough. Building work needs a permit under Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code². Septic permits come from a local sewage agency under Act 537³; we could not confirm which agency serves the borough.

At a glance

Building permit: Required under the statewide Uniform Construction Code; the borough's own permit procedure is not yet confirmed²⁴
Zoning: Yes, borough zoning (Chapter 93) with R, C-1 and M-1 districts¹
Septic: Permit from a local agency under Act 537; borough agency unconfirmed³
RV living: RVs may be parked or stored on residential lots but never lived in⁵
Manufactured homes: Allowed as single-family dwellings with conditions: foundation, public water and sewer where available, board approval⁶
Subdivision: Regulated by the borough's subdivision and land development chapter⁷
Who to call: Swoyersville Borough Zoning Office⁸

Who to call

Zoning

Swoyersville Borough Zoning Office

Zoning questions and applications inside Swoyersville Borough; the borough office on Main Street is the general contact

570-288-7591

[email protected]

675 Main Street, Swoyersville, PA 18704

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on October 14, 2026.

Off-grid gear

Going off-grid in Borough of Swoyersville means bringing your own water and power. The kit we’d start with:

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Does Swoyersville, PA have zoning, and what does it mean for RVs and manufactured homes?

Yes. Swoyersville Borough administers its own zoning under Chapter 93 of the borough code, with residential, C-1 commercial and M-1 manufacturing districts, a zoning officer and a zoning hearing board¹⁹.

Inside the borough, a camper or travel trailer may be parked or stored on private residential property, but it may never be occupied for living, sleeping or housekeeping⁵. A trailer or mobile home parked outside a permitted park for 48 hours or more is also prohibited, with limited exceptions⁵. Living in an RV on a borough lot while you build is therefore not allowed.

A mobile or manufactured home can be a single-family dwelling outside mobile home parks and the R-4 district⁶. It must meet the district's minimum lot size and setbacks, sit on a permanent frost-free foundation, connect to public water and sewer where available, bear the state seal or be inspected, and win board approval⁶. Parks need a minimum of 25 acres⁶.

Do you need a building permit in Swoyersville, and who issues it?

Yes. Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code requires the property owner to obtain a building permit before starting construction or building work². Swoyersville Borough's code lists building construction and occupancy permit chapters, but we could not confirm the borough's own permit procedure, fees or who acts as its code official.

Under the state code, the permit is issued by the municipality, a certified third-party agency or the state, depending on how the municipality elected to enforce it¹⁰. Ask the borough office which applies before you pay for plans.

A residential building may not be used or occupied without a certificate of occupancy¹¹. Foundation, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, frame, wallboard and final inspections are part of the process¹².

How do septic permits work inside Swoyersville?

On-lot septic permits in Pennsylvania are issued by a local agency under Act 537, not by the building or zoning office³. A local agency can be a municipality, a group of municipalities or a county health department¹³.

We could not confirm which agency permits septic systems inside Swoyersville, and the borough's code includes sewer and holding-tank chapters we have not been able to read. Where public sewer is available, the borough's zoning rules for mobile homes require connection⁶, so ask the borough office whether your lot is sewered before planning a septic field.

County-level soil data is a caution: only a small share of Luzerne County soils rate as not limited for a conventional drain field¹⁴, so expect a site evaluation and possibly an engineered system on any unsewered lot.

Building a home in Swoyersville: the steps, in order

Call the Swoyersville Borough Zoning Office⁸ to confirm your lot's district and what the borough's Chapter 93 allows¹.
Ask the borough office whether your lot has public water and sewer, which decides septic versus a sewer tap¹⁵.
If you are dividing land, check the borough's subdivision and land development chapter⁷.
Apply for the building permit under the Uniform Construction Code before starting any work².
Book the required inspections as work proceeds¹².
Obtain the certificate of occupancy before anyone moves in¹¹.

What stays with Luzerne County, and what to check before you buy?

Land outside Swoyersville is a different answer: the county's own zoning ordinance covers only some of Luzerne County's municipalities, and it too bars living in a parked RV¹⁶. See the Luzerne County page for land outside the borough.

Before you buy inside the borough, confirm with the borough office the zoning district, setbacks and lot-size rules, which we could not confirm, and floodplain rules, which the borough code addresses in chapters we have not read. County-level figures: Luzerne County's effective property tax rate is about 1.5%¹⁷ and its typical home value is about $226,150¹⁸.

Watch-outs

We could not confirm the borough's own building permit procedure, fees or code official; the state code requires a permit regardless, so call the borough office before you design or buy².
Inside Swoyersville the zoning rule applies, not the county's; some approvals, such as major solar special exceptions, are described as going to the Luzerne County zoning hearing board¹.
Minimum lot size, setbacks and building height by district were not confirmed; ask the Zoning Office for the rules on your parcel, because they differ by district⁹⁸.

Sources

Written October 14, 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.

Unanswered questions are usually a sign that Borough of Swoyersville publishes no rule on the point, not that none exists. Luzerne County’s page lists the county offices to call.

Building permits, zoning and septic rules in Swoyersville Borough, Pennsylvania