Building permits, zoning and septic in Borough of Spring Grove, Pennsylvania

At a glance

Building permits

Required; borough administers the building code¹

Zoning

Borough zoning applies²

Lot area

Town Residential: minimum 4,000 square feet per dwelling unit; not a boroughwide figure⁶

Septic permits

Generally required for on-lot systems; local agency issues, DEP oversees³⁴

Owner work

Uncompensated owner work has a home-improvement-law exclusion, not a building-permit waiver⁷⁸

Move-in approval

Residential UCC certificate of occupancy required⁹

Who to call

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

Do you need a building permit in Borough of Spring Grove, PA?

Spring Grove requires a permit for building and structural work and has elected to administer Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code locally.¹ Pennsylvania requires a building permit before covered residential construction, alterations and regulated systems work begins, subject to the state's scope exclusions and limited-work exemptions.⁸ Do not treat an owner doing the work as a building-permit exemption: Pennsylvania's exclusion for uncompensated owner work concerns home-improvement regulation, while covered residential work still requires a building permit.⁷⁸

Who handles building and zoning applications in Borough of Spring Grove?

Spring Grove's general-forms page provides building-permit, zoning-permit and renovation-demolition application forms.⁵ Contact the Spring Grove Borough Office for those forms and ask to be connected with the Building Code Official and Zoning Enforcement Officer.⁵¹ A building application must describe the exact location, extent and character of the proposed construction, repair or alteration.¹ Before move-in, Spring Grove requires the applicant to request the coordinated inspections and certificates from both the Building Code Official and Zoning Enforcement Officer.¹

Does Borough of Spring Grove have zoning for RVs, tiny homes and setbacks?

Spring Grove has a borough zoning ordinance; a lack of countywide zoning does not remove Spring Grove's local zoning requirements.² In Spring Grove's Town Residential district, the minimum lot area is 4,000 square feet per dwelling unit, with variance requests handled through the Zoning Hearing Board.⁶ That figure applies to the named district, rather than every property in Spring Grove.⁶ We could not confirm Spring Grove's rules for living in an RV, tiny-home occupancy, minimum dwelling size or district setbacks; ask the borough office to obtain a parcel-specific zoning answer before buying for those uses.⁵

How do septic permits and sewer connections work in Borough of Spring Grove?

For a new Spring Grove building connecting to public or community sewer, the Building Code Official requires satisfactory evidence of an irrevocable right to connect with enough capacity for the proposed use.¹ Pennsylvania generally requires a local-agency septic permit before installation, construction or use of a building served by an on-lot sewage system, subject to specific exceptions.³ Local agencies administer on-lot sewage permitting; DEP supplies oversight.⁴ Ask the borough office to identify the current sewage-enforcement agency, or contact DEP's Southcentral Clean Water office for a referral.⁵¹⁰ A composting toilet in a new residence still needs approved washwater or excess-liquid disposal under Pennsylvania's sanitation rules.¹¹

Building a home in Borough of Spring Grove: what comes first?

Start by asking the borough office for zoning review of your proposed use and the applicable building and zoning forms.⁵² Establish the sewer connection right and capacity for a public-sewer project, or obtain the required local-agency septic approval for an on-lot project.¹³ Obtain the residential building permit before covered construction begins, then notify the construction code official as work becomes ready for inspection and keep the work accessible.⁸¹² Request Spring Grove's coordinated building and zoning final approvals before occupancy; a residential UCC building cannot be occupied without its certificate of occupancy.¹⁹ For land outside the borough, consult the York County guide; Spring Grove's zoning applies inside the borough.²

Watch-outs

• Spring Grove's Town Residential lot-area requirement is district-specific; do not use it as a boroughwide lot-size standard.⁶
• We could not confirm local RV or tiny-home occupancy rules; ask the borough office for the applicable zoning determination before planning either use.⁵
• A new residence using a composting toilet still needs approved disposal of washwater or excess liquid under Pennsylvania rules.¹¹

Sources

1. Spring Grove Borough Building Code Official (ecode360.com)
2. Borough of Spring Grove, PA – eCode360 table of contents (Borough of Spring Grove), quoted and re-checked
3. 25 Pa. Code § 72.22. Permit issuance (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
4. Act 537 Sewage Facilities (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
5. Spring Grove Borough Office (springgrovepa.gov)
6. Spring Grove Borough Zoning Hearing Board agenda, April 16, 2026 (Borough of Spring Grove), quoted and re-checked
7. Contractor Licensing (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
8. Part XIV, Uniform Construction Code, Chapter 403 Administration (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
9. Part XIV, Uniform Construction Code, Chapter 403 Administration (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
10. Pennsylvania DEP Southcentral Regional Office — Clean Water (pa.gov)
11. 25 Pa. Code § 73.65. Recycling toilet, incinerating toilet or composting toilet (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
12. Part XIV, Uniform Construction Code, Chapter 403 Administration (Pennsylvania statewide rule), quoted and re-checked

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.