Nebraska

Buying Land in Chase County, Nebraska

Southwest Nebraska's Chase County, seat Imperial, is heavy center-pivot irrigation country sitting entirely within the Upper Republican Natural Resources District -- the first NRD in the state to regulate groundwater pumping (1978-79) and the first to impose a well-drilling moratorium (1997). At the same time, the county itself is in the middle of adopting its first-ever comprehensive zoning code, with a public hearing held in April 2026.

First-Ever County Zoning Is Mid-Adoption, Not Yet Settled Law

Case-by-case / verify locally

As of this review, Chase County does not have a long-standing adopted zoning ordinance covering the unincorporated county. A draft "Chase County Zoning Regulations" document dated February 2026 has gone through the Planning Commission, including a public hearing on April 13, 2026. This means the rules that will eventually govern parcel use, setbacks, and subdivision outside Imperial's own city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction are actively being written right now -- confirm current adoption status, effective date, and final content directly with the county before assuming any specific rule applies to a parcel.

Single NRD, Headquartered in the County Seat

Generally favorable

Unlike many Nebraska counties that span multiple Natural Resources Districts, Chase County sits entirely within one: the Upper Republican NRD, which also covers Dundy and Perkins Counties and is headquartered in Imperial -- the Chase County seat itself. That makes identifying the correct groundwater authority for any Chase County parcel straightforward, at least compared with a split-NRD county.

Nebraska's Most Historically Restrictive Groundwater District

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Upper Republican NRD has an unusually long, well-documented history of tight groundwater control: it became the first NRD in the state (1978-79) to set a groundwater pumping allocation, adopted Nebraska's first well-drilling moratorium in 1997, and its current 2023-2027 allocation period allows a total of 62.5 inches (roughly 12.5 inches per year) -- with district-wide restrictions that effectively prohibit expanding irrigated acreage. For a buyer evaluating irrigated or irrigable land in Chase County, well-permit status, current allocation, and whether the district will allow any expansion of irrigated acres on a specific parcel are not routine questions -- they are the central water-related due-diligence items, and should be confirmed directly with the NRD before assuming a parcel can be newly irrigated or a well can be added.

A county writing its first zoning code, live, in 2026

Chase County is a genuinely live case of the pattern the Nebraska state hub describes -- county zoning adoption is optional, and coverage varies from one county to the next. As of this review, Chase County appears not to have had a longstanding, adopted comprehensive zoning ordinance for its unincorporated area; instead, a draft "Chase County Zoning Regulations" document dated February 2026 has been working through the Planning Commission process, including a public hearing held on April 13, 2026 at the Chase County Courthouse in Imperial. The City of Imperial itself has long had its own zoning regulations (last comprehensively revised in 2021) covering land inside city limits and its extraterritorial jurisdiction -- but a parcel farther out in the unincorporated county has, until this process concludes, been operating without a comparable countywide zoning framework.

For a buyer, this cuts two ways. In the near term, a rural Chase County parcel outside Imperial's ETJ may not be subject to formal county zoning restrictions at all -- but that also means there's no settled, checkable zoning district to confirm before you buy, and the rules that will eventually apply (setbacks, permitted uses, subdivision standards) are still being finalized. Contact the Chase County Clerk's office, which coordinates the Planning Commission's work, to find out whether the zoning regulations have since been formally adopted, what their final effective content is, and whether a specific parcel's intended use is addressed.

One NRD for the whole county -- and Nebraska's pioneering groundwater regulator

Chase County sits entirely within the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, which also covers Dundy and Perkins Counties in Nebraska's southwest corner and is headquartered in Imperial -- meaning the county seat and the NRD's home office are the same town. That's a cleaner situation than many Nebraska counties, where a parcel's applicable NRD has to be confirmed watershed by watershed; in Chase County, it's the Upper Republican NRD, full stop.

What makes that NRD distinct is its regulatory history. The Upper Republican NRD was the first Natural Resources District in Nebraska -- and, by some accounts, one of the first government entities anywhere in the country -- to regulate groundwater pumping, setting an allocation as early as 1978-79, and it went on to adopt the state's first well-drilling moratorium in 1997. That confirms Chase County's reputation as heavy center-pivot country, but it also means groundwater access here is genuinely more constrained and more historically regulated than in a newer or looser NRD. See our well water page for Chase County for the district's current allocation figures, which wells actually need a permit, and what that means for buying irrigated or irrigable land specifically.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Chase County's zoning-adoption status is drawn from a proposed February 2026 zoning regulations document and a search-result reference to an April 13, 2026 Planning Commission public hearing; we could not directly fetch the county's own website during this research due to a network access restriction, so we could not confirm whether formal adoption has occurred since that hearing, nor the regulations' final content. This should be treated as a live, unresolved fact rather than settled county law, and confirmed directly with the county before relying on it. The Upper Republican NRD's regulatory history (1978-79 first allocation, 1997 first moratorium, current 62.5-inch/5-year allocation) is drawn from the district's own website and secondary sources describing it as historically pioneering; the specific current-period allocation figure should be reconfirmed directly with the district, as NRD allocation periods and figures are periodically revised.

Verify directly with: the Chase County Clerk's office for current zoning-adoption status and Planning Commission information, and the Upper Republican Natural Resources District for well permits, groundwater allocation, and irrigated-acreage questions

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Chase County

We could not confirm a dedicated Chase County Planning & Zoning office phone line separate from the County Clerk's office, which appears to coordinate Planning Commission business; confirm the right point of contact directly. We also could not confirm the exact status of the February 2026 draft zoning regulations as of this review -- whether they have since been formally adopted, and with what content or effective date -- which is itself the central open question for anyone evaluating unincorporated Chase County land; this should be confirmed directly with the county before relying on any assumption about zoning coverage. We could not confirm a direct phone number for the Upper Republican NRD's front desk beyond its general website.

Planning & Zoning