Building permits, zoning and land rules in Motley County, Texas

No: unincorporated Motley County does not require a building permit for a home, barn, shed, or workshop¹. Texas abolished statewide mandatory residential building-code enforcement in 2009, and general-law counties like Motley County have only narrow, specific permitting powers granted by the legislature, none of which cover ordinary site-built homes here^1,7. Texas does let some counties adopt a fire code or a residential-code resolution, but that authority is limited to counties over 250,000 people (or adjacent to one) for the fire code, and to counties within 50 miles of the international border or with a specific population threshold for the residential-code option; Motley County's population of about 1,000 does not put it in either category^6,7.

Motley County has no building or zoning department, and its own office list names only the County Judge, Commissioners' Court, County Clerk, Chief Appraiser, Justice of the Peace, County Treasurer, County Attorney, Tax Assessor-Collector, and Sheriff⁸. For a septic permit, contact TCEQ's Region 2 office directly at 5012 50th St, Ste 100, Lubbock, TX 79414-3426, phone 806-796-7092⁴. For anything else county government handles, including roads, the County Judge's office at the courthouse, 701 Dundee Ave, Matador, TX 79244, phone 806-347-2334, is the place to start⁸. Whether the towns of Matador and Roaring Springs set their own building or zoning rules was not confirmed; ask the town office before building inside city limits.

Motley County has no zoning ordinance and, as a general-law county, cannot adopt one for unincorporated land¹. Texas gives counties zoning power only for a short list of specific places named in state law, and Motley County is not one of them². With no county zoning ordinance, county rules set no minimum lot size, setback, height limit or dwelling size, and RVs, tiny homes, manufactured homes and accessory dwellings are unrestricted by county zoning². Zoning inside the incorporated towns of Matador and Roaring Springs is a separate question for each town.

Any on-site sewage facility (OSSF) in Motley County needs a state permit before you build it³. Because Motley County has no local authorized agent, TCEQ's Region 2 office in Lubbock is the permitting authority, confirmed by TCEQ's own county-lookup tool, which returns "Region 02 - Lubbock" as Motley County's sole authorized agent⁴. The permitting authority must approve or deny a complete application within 30 days³. If your tract is at least 10 acres, you may qualify for an exemption from the permit requirement, but every condition has to be met: a licensed site evaluation, a single-family home as the only dwelling on the tract, no nuisance or groundwater pollution, every part of the system at least 100 feet from the property line, and effluent disposed of entirely on your own property³. Soils here are middling for a conventional system: about 38% of Motley County's land is rated without severe limits for a conventional drain field, so get a site evaluation before you count on the cheapest option⁶. Off-grid, your OSSF still has to comply with all applicable state planning, construction, installation, and operation requirements unless the grandfathered-system, 10-acre, or emergency-repair exception applies³. An owner may install their own system only if they own the home and the property, and only where the permitting authority allows it; the owner-installer rule does not exempt anyone from building permits or inspections³.

Unincorporated Motley County has no zoning ordinance, so there is no county rule against living in an RV, tiny home, or manufactured home on your own land². That does not remove the septic requirement: whatever you live in, if it isn't on a public sewer you still need a permitted OSSF, or you need to qualify for the 10-acre exemption, before you can legally use a toilet there³. A factory-built structure sold as "industrialized housing" (as opposed to an ordinary manufactured/mobile home) has to meet Texas's mandatory 2021-edition building codes regardless of county zoning⁹.

1. Confirm your OSSF plan with TCEQ Region 2 (5012 50th St, Ste 100, Lubbock, TX 79414-3426; 806-796-7092), or check whether your tract qualifies for the 10-acre exemption instead^3,4.
2. If you don't qualify for the exemption, get a site evaluation from a licensed site evaluator; Motley County's soils are only rated free of severe limits on about 38% of the land, so this step matters⁶.
3. Submit your OSSF planning materials and permit application to TCEQ Region 2 and wait for approval, which the agency must decide within 30 days³.
4. Contact the Gateway Groundwater Conservation District about a well permit before you drill⁵.
5. If your driveway will connect to a state highway, apply for a TxDOT access driveway permit on Form 1058 before you build it¹⁰.
6. Build: unincorporated Motley County has no county building permit or inspection requirement, so no county sign-off is needed to start construction on an ordinary site-built home¹. If you're installing your own OSSF, you can do it yourself if you own the home and the property, meet TCEQ's other conditions, and use licensed help for anything you're not qualified to do³.
7. If anything else comes up that isn't covered by a named county office, call the County Judge's office at 806-347-2334⁸.

Septic: get a site evaluation before you buy, since only about 38% of the county's soils are rated without severe limits for a conventional drain field, and find out whether your tract is large enough (10 acres or more) to qualify for the state's septic-permit exemption^3,6. Access: a driveway onto a state highway needs a TxDOT permit on Form 1058, paid for and built to TxDOT's standards¹⁰. Water: all of Motley County lies inside the Gateway Groundwater Conservation District, which has adopted and enforces well permitting rules and may deny a well construction permit or limit withdrawals, so confirm the district's rules before you drill⁵. Dividing land: a tract outside city limits that is used primarily for agriculture, ranching, wildlife management or timber can qualify for an exemption from state subdivision platting requirements, but the exemption ends if the land stops being used that way¹¹. Zoning: there is none in unincorporated Motley County, and none is coming, since the county has no legal authority to adopt it^1,2. Climate: this is dry, hot country, with about 23 inches of rain a year and severe drought in nearly 42% of years historically⁶. Taxes: Motley County's effective property tax rate runs about 1.1%, with a median annual property tax bill around $890⁶. The county is very sparsely populated, at about 1 person per square mile, with the nearest city of 100,000 or more roughly 70 miles away⁶.