Indiana

Buying Land in Union County, Indiana

Seat Liberty, on Indiana's eastern border with Ohio. Union County is Indiana's second-least-populous county -- but unlike some of the state's smallest counties, it has its own zoning ordinance and an active Area Plan Commission, and part of its northern reach sits inside a sanitary-sewer district built to protect Brookville Lake.

Countywide Zoning Exists, Despite the Small Population

Generally favorable

Union County has adopted a Unified Zoning Ordinance, administered by an active Area Plan Commission and Area Plan Office in Liberty -- it is not one of the roughly one-fifth of Indiana counties without countywide zoning.

Second-Least-Populous County in Indiana (Not the Least Populous)

Generally favorable

Union County's population (roughly 6,863) is the second smallest of Indiana's 92 counties; neighboring Ohio County is the smallest. Both are genuinely rural, low-land-value counties by Indiana standards.

Part of the County Sits in the Brookville Lake Regional Waste District

Case-by-case / verify locally

Land from Whitewater Memorial State Park north to Liberty falls inside a special sanitary-sewer district. Confirm whether a specific parcel needs a sewer-availability letter instead of, or alongside, an ordinary septic permit.

Zoning: a genuine ordinance and an active Area Plan Commission, despite the small size

Union County's small population doesn't mean it has skipped zoning the way some of Indiana's other rural counties have. The county maintains a Unified Zoning Ordinance and an active Area Plan Commission, run out of the Area Plan Office at 6 West South Street in Liberty (Executive Director Jeff Mathews, phone (765) 458-5044). The office publishes its own building-permit fee schedule -- covering everything from single and two-family dwellings through commercial and industrial construction, generally scaled by square footage -- and administers standard zoning districts, including an agricultural district that requires a minimum lot size of five acres for a permitted farm dwelling and related agricultural uses.

One correction worth flagging directly: it's easy to assume Indiana's smallest counties by population have also skipped zoning, but that's not the pattern here. Union County is Indiana's second-least-populous county (roughly 6,863 residents), just ahead of neighboring Ohio County, which holds the actual title of least populous (roughly 5,996) -- and Ohio County has its own zoning history worth checking separately if you're comparing the two. Either way, confirm current zoning classification and permitted uses for a specific Union County parcel directly with the Area Plan Office rather than assuming a rural-looking tract is automatically unzoned.

The Brookville Lake Regional Waste District: a wrinkle for the county's northern reach

A meaningful part of northern Union County -- from Whitewater Memorial State Park north to the town of Liberty -- sits inside the Brookville Lake Regional Waste District, a sanitary-sewer district formed by the State of Indiana in 1974 spanning both Union and Franklin counties, created specifically to protect Brookville Lake's water quality from the kind of nutrient and bacterial pollution that widespread individual septic systems near a reservoir can cause. Within that district's service area, land generally connects to sanitary sewer rather than relying on an individual on-site system, and the northern portion of the service area flows to Liberty's own wastewater treatment facility.

For a buyer, that means a parcel inside the district's boundary may require a letter of availability for sanitary sewer service as part of the county's building or health-department permitting process -- a genuinely different step than the septic-permit process a buyer outside the district would follow. Confirm directly with the Union County Health Department and the Brookville Lake Regional Waste District itself whether a specific parcel falls inside the district before assuming either an ordinary septic permit or a sewer connection applies.

Septic (outside the sewer district) and other departments to know

For land outside the Brookville Lake Regional Waste District's boundary, the Union County Health Department handles ordinary septic permitting under Indiana's statewide ISDH rule, 410 IAC 6-8.3 -- contact the department's Sanitarian, Ron Parker, at (765) 458-5393. The permit process here follows the standard state pattern: a submitted application and site plan, a soil evaluation from a certified soil scientist, and inspections before and during construction. If your parcel is inside the Brookville Lake district's boundary, you'll also need a letter of availability for sanitary sewer service as part of the same review.

The Union County Assessor's office ((765) 458-5331) holds property valuation and parcel records, and the County Recorder ((765) 458-5434), both based at 26 West Union Street in Liberty, holds deeds, easements, and plats. Given Union County's genuinely small land base and population, expect a more personal, direct process at each of these offices than in a larger county -- a phone call to confirm current zoning, septic-district status, and any recorded easement on a specific parcel is usually the fastest path here.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Union County's zoning and Area Plan Commission structure, its septic-permitting process, and department contact details are drawn from the county's own unioncountyin.org and in.gov pages via WebSearch-indexed content rather than a full verbatim site read; direct WebFetch was not attempted in this pass. The population ranking (Union County second-least-populous, behind Ohio County) was independently checked against Census QuickFacts-sourced comparisons rather than accepted from a single secondary source, because the assignment brief's initial framing of Union County as Indiana's least-populous county did not match this research -- that correction is stated directly above rather than silently applied. The Brookville Lake Regional Waste District's service-area description (from Whitewater Memorial State Park north to Liberty, formed 1974, spanning Union and Franklin counties) is confirmed via the district's own posted services page. This research pass deliberately found no distinctive fact pattern (no named large development, active zoning dispute, or significant industrial/public-land story) strong enough to justify a standalone topic or use page for Union County -- a genuine finding given the county's very small size, not an oversight.

Verify directly with: the Union County Area Plan Office for current zoning status and building permits, and the Union County Health Department for septic permitting and Brookville Lake Regional Waste District sewer-availability questions

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Union County

Direct WebFetch access to unioncountyin.org and in.gov/counties/union was not attempted in this research pass; department contacts and hours reflect WebSearch-indexed content rather than a full verbatim site read. The Area Plan Office keeps limited public hours (mornings only, Monday through Friday, per its own posted schedule) -- confirm before visiting in person.

Planning & Zoning