[JessiRhea]

My husband and I are looking at some properties in the Yellville/Flippin area, hoping to get a few acres and live a somewhat peaceful life in the country. I've been having some issues figuring out what restrictions we might face though, so I'm hoping someone here can help me. We have just about enough savings to buy some land and plop down a trailer, or maybe build something small ourselves, but the budget is real tight (I mean REAL tight) and that on top of my general bewilderment of all things government, I don't know if we'd be capable of complying with a bunch of building requirements, inspections, and fees. I've heard conflicting information on that front. Some say if you're well outside city limits you don't even have to worry about all that, but in other places it sounds like you do need to follow the whole procedure if you don't want some assessor finding you out and giving you trouble down the line. So how is it really? Is it sort of 'do what you want and cross your fingers', or is it 'hope you get an inspector who's happy to check the boxes for you without much trouble'? Any clarifications or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[gemstone1]

To obtain building permits in Marion County: link
link2

You will need to comply with the permit process....there are darn few locations in the US that allow un-permitted construction.

Regards
Gemstone1

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

To obtain building permits in Marion County: link
link2

You will need to comply with the permit process....there are darn few locations in the US that allow un-permitted construction.

Regards
Gemstone1

No permits needed here in Newton county.

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by JessiRhea

My husband and I are looking at some properties in the Yellville/Flippin area, ...

Where are you coming from?
It is quite possible that Marion County has fewer people than the town you are moving from. As such, you may find that any help you need from county officials can be had, simply by asking. These places are a lot like Mayberry.

[TRex2]

Looks like the OP might be getting cold feet. They came back to (maybe: see note) look at the answers, but haven't posted anything more. It has provided some discussion activity here, and that is always nice. Also, nice links from Gemstone1, which is always a good thing.



(Note: this forum runs version 3 of vBulletin software. On Version 4 the software can actually tell you who has read the thread. I watch that feature on other forums and miss it here. Version 5, OTOH, is a buggy nightmare, and many forums that migrate to it, go belly up.)

[JessiRhea]

No cold feet TRex, was just busy with other things. Yes, I'm coming from a bigger city, though I've lived in small towns before. I've been able to get by avoiding local governments up till now. I do intend to visit the county seat and speak to people there when I visit, but I was hoping to get a feel for how necessary it is in those parts, or if one can get away with minimal governmental interaction. It does sound like some people are able to get away with doing what they want without asking permission, but I don't think I have that kind of luck. If it's a matter of minimal enforcement of existing regulations in areas outside city limits, I'm wondering if I might just draw more attention to myself by asking questions of gov't officials unnecessarily.

[TRex2]

No cold feet TRex, was just busy with other things

I had wondered, since I can see that you stopped by the forum, but I can't tell what you read while here.

I'm wondering if I might just draw more attention to myself by asking questions of gov't officials unnecessarily.

You will probably draw attention, just by being new. I recall, shortly after I got here, I stopped by "city" hall and asked the clerk something. She already knew who I was and where I lived.

I asked a local elected official about something I was doing, that I had discovered I technically needed a permit for, and he said, "don't worry about it, we are only concerned about projects that are bigger than yours, because they could cause erosion to run down the creek and into the river."

And that will, likely, be the key. You will be in a watershed. Either the White River, or the Buffalo.

I looked at the pdf that Gemstone1 linked and most of what was in it was concerned that someone would build something that would flood, attract termites, or other insects or vermin, and then they would abandon it. If you don't build something like that, or something that will pollute the runoff when it rains (see note), I don't think they will have any problem with what you do.

(Note: That may include outhouses. I recently ran across some Amish having problems with the locals not understanding how the Amish outhouses work, although that wasn't in Arkansas.)

[JessiRhea]

That's encouraging, TRex, thank you. If we do build ourselves it would be very small, such that I'm concerned about minimum square footage requirements, so maybe no big deal. Once I started looking into the requirements for a residence building permit, I was getting worried about needing licensed contractors for plumbing, electricity, etc, and complying with the International Building Code, and it all starts to add up. We're wanting to move somewhere we can do most of the work ourselves, in a very basic way, to keep costs down. I guess I'll just have to talk to the folks when we get there and describe what we have in mind, but what you're telling me is making me a little less nervous. If they're even allowing outhouses in some cases, that's a good sign to me.

I'll check out those links too, thank you gemstone1.

[JessiRhea]

(Reread what you said about outhouses, I'd skipped over the part about that not being in Arkansas. No matter, we weren't considering that anyways.)

[TRex2]

Well, here is a line from the AR plumbing code:

17-38-302. Exemptions.
The licensing provisions of this chapter shall not apply to:
(1) Plumbing work done by a property owner in a building owned and occupied by him
or her as his or her home except when the license is required by local ordinance;

You hadn't mentioned, before, you were considering something like a tiny home. I do know that the local municipalities are scrambling to add a minimum square footage, because someone just built one of those on a slab, but that is inside "city" limits. I don't think there is a minimum outside city limits. If there is, there is usually a way to get around it.

So, I take it y'all are intending to build something on unimproved land?
I should warn you, as I am doing that myself, the soil here is kinda "rocky" in places.
Are you planning to clear the land, or have you found something that is already cleared?
One of your biggest obstacles, from what you describe, will be getting water and electricity.