Buying Land in Boone County, Missouri

Zoning and subdivision: one department, real countywide authority

Boone County is a genuine exception to a common Missouri pattern: while a meaningful number of the state's counties have never adopted zoning, Boone County has, and has for decades. The county's Zoning Ordinance is authorized under sections 64.850 and 64.885 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri (originally adopted in 1978), and its Subdivision Regulations -- a distinct authority -- run under RSMo 64.825-.830. Both are administered by the county's Resource Management department (Planning Division), based at the Boone County Government Center, 801 E. Walnut, Room 315, Columbia, MO 65201, (573) 886-4330. That department handles rezonings, conditional use permits, subdivision plat review, variances, building permits, and floodplain management -- effectively the full land-use pipeline from one office, which is a genuine convenience compared to counties where these functions are split across multiple agencies or don't exist at all.

Boone County's agricultural zoning districts include A-R (Agriculture-Residential, historically platted at roughly half-acre lots and one of the county's original 1973 zoning designations) and A-1, among others; the exact district that applies to a specific parcel, and what it allows, should be confirmed directly with Resource Management rather than assumed from a neighboring parcel's use. Boone County has also required building permits under an adopted building code (the 2015 International Codes) with an inspection program running continuously since 1986 -- another point of contrast with rural Missouri counties that have no building code at all, so factor permit review and inspections into your timeline here even for straightforward residential construction.

A brand-new Master Plan, and real growth pressure along Route B

Boone County's Master Plan -- the policy document the Planning and Zoning Commission uses to evaluate rezonings, conditional use permits, and subdivision plats -- had gone more than 25 years without a comprehensive update before the county approved a new one in May 2025. Public feedback gathered during that update process, including at a hearing in Centralia, focused specifically on growth-pressure concerns along the Route B corridor. This isn't abstract: Boone County's population has climbed to roughly 191,746 as of 2025, up from about 185,000 at the 2020 census, and Columbia -- the county seat and home to the University of Missouri -- is Missouri's fastest-growing municipality, up nearly 40% since 2000.

For a land buyer, the practical implication is that Boone County's current zoning map and subdivision expectations are freshly revised rather than a decades-old, settled backdrop -- and specific corridors identified during the Master Plan process (Route B being the named example) may see zoning-map changes, new conditional-use activity, or altered subdivision expectations sooner than elsewhere in the county. Boone County's own Subdivision Regulations (Chapter I of its Land Use Regulations) set out a minor-plat/major-plat determination process and explicitly prohibit creating a non-governmentally-maintained public road or private drive except as authorized under the regulations -- both genuinely consequential rules for anyone buying a parcel that was, or might be, split from a larger tract. See our dedicated subdividing-land page for this county for the specifics of that process.

Septic: a recently transferred responsibility

On-site wastewater (septic) systems in unincorporated Boone County are governed by the county's Wastewater Treatment Ordinance and require a permit before construction or reconstruction, based on a soil evaluation and installed by a certified installer, with no backfilling allowed until a final inspection. What's worth knowing specifically: this permitting responsibility sat with the City of Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services department for years, but was transferred to Boone County Resource Management effective June 28, 2022. A 2020 published fee schedule listed a $510 permit fee for new construction or an upgrade -- confirm the current fee and process directly with Resource Management at (573) 886-4330 rather than relying on an older source that still names the health department.

Floodplain and stormwater: an active, recently revised program

The Director of Resource Management serves as Boone County's Floodplain Administrator, maintaining the county's Flood Insurance Rate Maps and enforcing its Flood Plain Regulations -- every building permit application is checked against those maps. Structures in the floodplain fringe can generally be built if elevated or floodproofed, while the floodway itself carries strict prohibitions, with an exception for agricultural structures designed to let floodwaters pass through. Boone County also revised its Stormwater Ordinance on March 6, 2025, adding runoff-retention requirements tied to 2-year and 25-year storm events specifically to encourage micro-detention and other stormwater best-management practices on new development -- a genuinely recent change, so confirm current stormwater requirements for a specific project rather than relying on pre-2025 guidance. Boone County also maintains a public Floodplain Information Viewer for checking a parcel's flood-hazard status online before you rely on a general area description.

Wells: regulated by the state, not the county

Missouri does not run well permitting through counties -- there is no separate Boone County well-permit process. A non-restricted water well installation permit is required for paid well-construction work, issued and tracked by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and a landowner may install and maintain their own well without a permit provided the work meets the state's construction standards. See our national well-water guide for how that state-level process works in practice; Boone County Resource Management is the right office for zoning, septic, and floodplain questions, but not for well permitting itself.