Buying Land in Clermont County, Ohio

Zoning: no county resolution -- each township decides for itself

Clermont County is a clean illustration of one half of Ohio's dual zoning system: the county's Board of Commissioners has not adopted a countywide rural zoning resolution under ORC Chapter 303, and the county Planning Commission's own description of its role is limited to providing guidance and support to each township's separately elected zoning commission and board of trustees. That means Chapter 519 township zoning -- adopted, if at all, township by township -- is the layer that actually governs land use on unincorporated parcels here, not a single countywide code.

The county's own Township Zoning page confirms Pierce, Stonelick, Tate, Union, and Williamsburg Townships have adopted their own zoning resolutions, while Washington Township has none. This research pass did not obtain a confirmed status for every one of the county's remaining townships, so don't extrapolate: a parcel a few miles away in a different township could be governed by an entirely different zoning resolution, or by none at all. Township zoning resolutions are recorded with the Clermont County Recorder's Office, which is a useful backstop if a township office is slow to respond.

Subdivision regulations apply countywide, whether or not the township is zoned

Separately from township-by-township zoning, the Clermont County Planning Commission administers a single set of countywide Subdivision Regulations governing how raw land gets divided into buildable lots -- minor lot splits, larger acreage subdivisions, and hybrid plats combining big and small lots all route through this one process regardless of the township's own zoning status. The county adopted its current Comprehensive Plan at an April 22, 2014 Planning Commission meeting, which continues to guide how the Planning Commission evaluates proposed subdivisions.

A record building boom, and a subdivision-rule change to keep up with it

Clermont County signed off on 6,156 building permits in 2025 -- a third consecutive annual record, and the first time the county has cleared 6,000 permits in a single year (3,986 residential, 2,170 commercial and industrial). The Planning Commission separately reviewed development plans covering more than 3,800 new housing units that year. County officials have attributed the pace to strong housing demand, falling interest rates, available land, infrastructure improvements, and new employers locating or expanding in the county.

That volume pushed the Board of County Commissioners to act: on July 9, commissioners adopted Resolution 101-25, amending Section 801(b)(2)(b) of the county's Subdivision Regulations so that a builder can pull building permits once a required utility bond is accepted -- rather than waiting until water and sewer infrastructure is physically complete -- while still holding certificates of occupancy back until that infrastructure is finished and approved. The bond itself has to cover the full cost of construction and inspection plus 30%, and needs sign-off from the county prosecuting attorney; the change is described as aligning county practice with the phased-approval concept already built into Section 105.4 of the Ohio Building Code. See our dedicated subdividing-land page for what this means if you're buying into a subdivision that's still under construction.

Septic and other departments to know

Clermont County Public Health runs the county's Operation Permit Program for household sewage treatment systems: systems with electrical components (pumps, aerators) get inspected every 19 months, everything else every 38 months, and new-construction systems require plan review and approval before the health district will sign off. The department also offers an online septic-system search tool covering prior permit and inspection history for a given property -- worth checking before you buy an existing home with an older system.

The Clermont County Auditor's office (101 East Main Street, Batavia; (513) 732-7150) runs both property-tax records and the county's GIS parcel-mapping tool, which can show property lines, subdivisions, flood plains, and topography for a specific address. Given the pace of development described above, always pull a current GIS view rather than relying on an older plat, and confirm subdivision-regulation compliance directly with the Planning Commission for any lot inside a subdivision still finishing its infrastructure under the new bonded-permit process.