Building Outside City Limits in Calhoun County

First: which government is in charge of your lot?

Inside a city, that city's permit office handles the house; Oxford's steps are on our build-on-your-lot page. Outside every city, the county is the local government. The county Highway Department, for example, builds and maintains the roads and bridges outside the municipalities' limits.^[1] Check the parcel on the county's GIS map (gis.calhouncounty.org) or ask the county before you assume either way.^[2]

Is there a county building permit?

State law lets a county commission adopt building codes for its unincorporated areas by resolution; it doesn't force one to.^[3] We looked through the Calhoun County Commission's website and found no residential building permit application or inspection program posted. That's an absence of evidence, not a written rule, so call the Commission at 256-241-2800 and ask what applies to your parcel before work starts.^[4]

No local permit doesn't mean no code. Alabama's residential building and energy codes are adopted statewide, though the statute says they're enforced by local governments that run permitting and inspection programs.^[3] A lender or insurer may still want proof the house meets them, so it's worth building to code either way.

Flood zones: a county permit you may need

Calhoun County takes part in the National Flood Insurance Program. In March 2016 the Anniston Star reported that the Commission had approved an updated flood damage prevention ordinance and handed enforcement to a floodplain manager in the county Highway Department. Per that report, the ordinance bars building in a floodway and requires a permit for construction in a flood hazard area, with fines that can build up daily.^[2]

Alabama's state floodplain office lists what needs that local permit in a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area: new buildings, fill, grading, excavation, and roads, bridges and culverts among them, and new homes must sit above the base flood elevation.^[5] Look your lot up on FEMA's map service^[6] or the county's flood viewer, then call the Highway Department at 256-237-4657 if any part of it is shaded.^[1]

Septic: the permit almost every county lot needs

Most county land has no public sewer. The Alabama Department of Public Health tells buyers to confirm sewer before buying, and if there isn't any, to have the soil evaluated by a professional engineer, land surveyor, geologist or soil classifier.^[7] The county health department must issue a Permit to Install before a septic system goes in.^[8] Do this before you close on raw land; a lot that fails is a costly surprise.

Address, roads and utilities

• 911 address. A new house needs one. Calhoun County 911 assigns them (256-644-0214 or 256-644-0217).^[9]
• Driveway onto a county road. Ask the Highway Department what it wants before you cut in a drive or set a culvert; it maintains 865 miles of county roads and highways.^[1]
• Digging. Call Alabama 811 before any excavation.^[10]

Questions to ask before you buy county land

1. Is the parcel inside any city limit or police jurisdiction?
2. Is any part of it in a FEMA flood zone or floodway?
3. Will the soil pass for a septic system, and where would the field lines go?
4. Does a county road, private road or easement give legal access?
5. Which lender and insurer rules apply if no local inspector signs off?

Call (256) 473‑4809