Building permits, zoning and septic rules in Borden County, Texas

At a glance

Building permit

Not required in unincorporated Borden County¹

Zoning

None countywide; no zoning ordinance²

Septic permits

Issued by TCEQ's Midland regional office, not the county³⁴

RV / tiny home / manufactured home living

Not restricted by county zoning (there is none)⁶

Minimum home size, setbacks, lot coverage

None set by the county⁶

10-acre septic exemption

Available for a qualifying single-family home on a tract of 10+ acres⁷

Farm/ranch driveway onto a state highway

TxDOT design guidance calls for 25-ft return radii and a 20-ft throat width⁸

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 Borden County, Texas?

Unincorporated Borden County does not require a building permit to put up a home, barn, or shed¹. Texas gives counties no general power to require building permits outside city limits, and Borden County's official site lists no building department or code-enforcement office, consistent with that state limit¹⁹. Texas law does let some counties adopt optional residential building-code standards or a fire code for larger buildings, but that authority is tied to population thresholds and a border-distance test that Borden County's own site never confirms it has acted on⁹. If you can't find a definite answer on whether any such order exists, ask the Borden County Judge's office directly rather than assume either way¹⁰.

Who do you call about permits and building questions in Borden County?

There is no Borden County building department, planning office, or zoning office to call, because the county has not created those offices¹². For a septic (OSSF) permit, contact the TCEQ Region 7 office in Midland, which TCEQ's own county lookup lists as Borden County's authorized OSSF permitting agent⁴. For anything involving a county road, including a driveway, pipeline crossing, or other road-use agreement, use the Road Maintenance & Permits process run through the Commissioners Court¹¹. For a new connection to the county-run water system, contact the Borden County Water Department¹². For anything else, including a floodplain question or a general permitting question that doesn't fit those offices, start with the Borden County Judge's office¹⁰.

Does Borden County have zoning?

No: Borden County has no zoning ordinance, and its official site lists no planning or zoning department². Texas law gives counties zoning power only in a handful of narrow, named situations, such as parts of Padre Island in Cameron and Willacy Counties, and Borden County does not fall under any of them, so the county has no general zoning authority to exercise¹³. In practice this means no countywide minimum home size, no minimum lot size, no setbacks, and no lot-coverage or building-height limit apply to unincorporated Borden County land⁶. It also means the county does not restrict accessory dwellings, RVs, tiny homes, or manufactured homes on a parcel by zoning, because there is no zoning to do the restricting⁶.

How do septic permits work in Borden County?

Texas requires a permit and an approved plan before you construct, alter, extend, or repair a septic system (an OSSF), and that rule applies in Borden County the same as anywhere else in the state⁷. Because Borden County has no local health department or OSSF program, the TCEQ Region 7 office in Midland is the permitting authority, reviewing plans, issuing the permit, and inspecting the installation³⁴¹⁴. Only 29.2% of Borden County's soils are rated free of severe limitations for a conventional septic drain field, so most sites need extra scrutiny; plan on a site evaluation early and budget for an engineered or alternative system if your land falls in that majority¹⁵. A narrow exemption exists for a single-family home on a tract of 10 acres or more: it applies only if a TCEQ-licensed site evaluator or engineer signs off, every part of the system stays at least 100 feet from the property line, effluent stays on your property, the system causes no nuisance or groundwater pollution, and the home is the only dwelling on the tract⁷.

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

Borden County's lack of zoning means the county does not restrict RV, tiny-home, or manufactured-home occupancy on unincorporated land by ordinance⁶. That follows from Texas law limiting county zoning power and from Borden County never having adopted a zoning ordinance¹³. It is not a guarantee that nothing else applies: a compliant septic system is still required before wastewater can legally be disposed of, so the TCEQ permit above applies to a permanent house and to a trailer parked long-term alike³. Borden County is also extremely sparsely populated, at roughly 0.6 people per square mile, so plan for long distances to services and slow response times regardless of what you build or park¹⁶.

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

1. Confirm your parcel is unincorporated Borden County land².
2. Get a site evaluation for septic before you commit to a house site, then apply for your OSSF permit through the TCEQ Region 7 office in Midland, the permitting authority for Borden County⁴⁷.
3. If you need a new or altered road access, pipeline crossing, or other road-use agreement on a county road, file a Road Maintenance & Permits application through the Commissioners Court; if your access is instead onto a state highway, TxDOT's farm/ranch driveway guidance calls for a 25-foot return radius and a 20-foot throat width¹¹⁸.
4. Build to whatever standard you choose beyond septic and access: no county building permit or inspection applies in unincorporated Borden County¹.
5. If you want to connect to the county water system rather than drill a well, contact the Borden County Water Department before you finalize your site plan¹².

What to check before you buy land in Borden County

Water and soils come first: 96.3% of Borden County land sits at 15% slope or less, which is easy to build on, but only 29.2% of soils are rated free of severe limits for a conventional septic drain field, so get a site evaluation before assuming a standard system will work¹⁷¹⁵. The county is dry and drought-prone: average annual precipitation is 19.4 inches, and the area has spent 32.8% of recent years in severe drought, which matters for a private well as much as for any garden or livestock plan¹⁸¹⁹. Borden County is one of the most sparsely populated counties in Texas, at about 0.6 people per square mile, and sits roughly 62 miles from the nearest metro area, so budget real drive time for supplies, medical care, and emergency response¹⁶²⁰. Farmland here has recently been valued around $1,141 an acre, and the typical home value is about $105,400, useful benchmarks when pricing a parcel²¹²². Property taxes run a low effective rate near 0.5%, with a median bill around $493 a year, though a small tax bill often reflects low ag-use valuations rather than a low land price²³²⁴. Average annual temperature runs about 63.9°F, with a projection of around 45.1 days a year at or above 100°F by midcentury, worth weighing for anyone planning to work outdoors²⁵²⁶.

Watch-outs

• Borden County's site does not name a floodplain administrator separately from Emergency Management; ask that office directly if your parcel is near a drainage or floodway²⁷.
• Borden County's site never states whether the county has adopted any of the optional Local Government Code Chapter 233 residential building-code or fire-code provisions; confirm with the County Judge's office rather than assuming either way¹⁰⁹.

Sources

1. Borden County, Texas - County Government (2026 county census)
2. Borden County, Texas - County Government (2026 county census)
3. TCEQ - Getting a Permit for an OSSF (2026 county census)
4. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Region 7 Office (Midland) (www6.tceq.texas.gov)
5. County population: Bolthole Index county data
6. Texas law on county zoning and building authority
7. Getting a Permit for an OSSF - Such as a Septic System (Texas statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
8. Section 4: Driveway Permits, Design, and Materials, quoted and re-checked
9. Local Government Code Chapter 233, County Regulation of Housing and Other Structures (Texas statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
10. Borden County Judge (co.borden.tx.us)
11. Borden County Road Maintenance & Permits (Commissioners Court) (co.borden.tx.us)
12. Borden County Water Department (Borden County Water System) (co.borden.tx.us)
13. Local Government Code Chapter 231, County Zoning Authority (Texas statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
14. Basics for Septic Systems (Texas statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
15. Share of soils without severe limits for a conventional septic drain field (USDA SSURGO): Bolthole Index county data
16. Population density: Bolthole Index county data
17. Share of land at 15% slope or less: Bolthole Index county data
18. Annual precipitation: Bolthole Index county data
19. Share of years in severe drought: Bolthole Index county data
20. Distance to the nearest metro area: Bolthole Index county data
21. Farmland value per acre (USDA census): Bolthole Index county data
22. Typical home value (Zillow): Bolthole Index county data
23. Effective property tax rate: Bolthole Index county data
24. Median property tax bill: Bolthole Index county data
25. Average annual temperature: Bolthole Index county data
26. Projected mid-century days at or above 100°F: Bolthole Index county data
27. Borden County Emergency Management (co.borden.tx.us)

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.