Permitting a yurt

[Chercher]

Hello,
So happy to have found this site. I too, am looking for aa small piece of land. And as the rest of you worried about the permit issues. Or possible issues. I'm looking in southern Calif. (or more north if needed) wondering if anyone has any exspience in this neck of the woods? I hear CA is a tuff one? Yet, it sounds like people have yurts out here. It would be great if (as mentioned above) there was a list of where people have been successful permitting. No one has to reveal to much in case they're nervous about anything. But just to give people a hint of possibility? I'm really hoping to make one a home.
Thanks for being here,
Cheryl

[ProbioticArt]

Anyone with experience dealing with permitting issues for residential or nonresidential Yurts on the Oregon Coast? Specifically Lincoln County?

Thanks!

[ScoutCompton]

Does anyone know how to go about permitting in Laurel Canyon CA?

[Bob Rowlands]

Call the building dept that handles Laurel Canyon, and get the facts from them. That eliminates middle man opinions that can confuse you..

[hierony]

Here's a news article about building codes in some Idaho counties: The Coeur d'Alene Press - Local News, Rare decision to not adopt new building codes causes stir

Sounds like there's a number of counties that have optional/no building codes that could be decent places for yurts--just beware the cold!

[Sccomstock]

I just left the building permit office for Mason County Washington and NO permits are required for full time yurt living. If the platform is 30inches above grade then you need a deck permit complete with railing, but if the platform is under 30 inches from grade the platform needs ZERO permits!!!! There are no minimum

insulation

requirements and no permitting for water or power as long as the property has an approved septic on file with the county!!

Needless to say I am on cloud 9 knowing that we can move ahead with our yurt without permitting issues.

[RocktheCasbah]

That's great news! Make sure you talked to the right officials. We were told that we didn't need a permit in the municipality of Powell River BC by front end staff and once our yurt was up the city freaked out and made us just many, very expensive hoops to have it permitted. Because someone said yes to you, you can always challenge a city in court, but who needs that stress!

[Freedom Yurt Cabins]

Found this recently and thought people here might be interested to know. After last year's fires around Sonoma County CA, they revised some of their building permit regulations and are offering fee exemptions to help residents rebuild.

To get every individual back into their homes and return the community to its health and vibrancy, the City of Santa Rosa has created new policies, which include:

Expediting review process for hillside development and design review
Waiving fees for discretionary planning, demolition and temporary housing permits
Allowing residents to live in temporary housing units, such as manufactured, tiny homes, and RVs, on their properties while rebuilding
Allowing residents to build detached accessory dwelling units to live in while they are rebuilding their main residence and offering incentives for such units

See the whole PDF document here: https://issuu.com/cityofsantarosa/do...57122/57669144

I'm not 100% sure if our wood yurt cabins qualify, let alone a fabric yurt, but it is a drastic reduction in the permitting barriers in that area. Worth looking into if you're in that area! Live in a yurt while you rebuild, then use it as an Airbnb/granny flat/accessory structure once your house is rebuilt.

[spaldon]

Hi Jafo, new here. Toying with the idea of selling our home and building a yurt. I know you mentioned a septic or cesspool however we would want to use a composting toilet - what would we do with our water from sink/shower use? Will that get approved? My husband mentioned using water filtration tank and then siphoning to the garden. I'm just not sure what will be allowed for a primary residence and not sure where to start looking either. We will need to have a raised deck in order to have the composting toilet beneath. What are your thoughts about building this? Also we are a family of 4 how big of a yurt might we need to accommodate comfortably? I will take any and all advice! We are in northern NJ

[Jafo]

I hate to defer, but the rules change wildly from town to town. I would just go speak with your local zoning officer. Most of these guys are retired contractors and can tell you pretty quickly what they would consider and what they would reject.

The idea of using grey water in your garden is probably not going to fly, in my opinion. The composting toilet on the other hand? You might get that one.