Ohio

Buying Land in Hocking County, Ohio

Seat Logan, home to Hocking Hills -- one of Ohio's biggest tourism draws and a cabin-rental market with real scale. Hocking County has established its own rural zoning commission, and as of this review it's on the verge of adopting the county's first comprehensive short-term-rental ordinance, years in the making.

The County Has Its Own Rural Zoning Commission

Generally favorable

Hocking County has established a county rural zoning commission under ORC 303.04, meaning the county has proceeded under Chapter 303 rather than leaving zoning entirely to individual townships. This research pass could not confirm exactly which townships the county zoning covers versus any with their own separate zoning -- confirm directly for a specific parcel.

A Countywide Short-Term-Rental Ordinance Is Close to Adoption

Case-by-case / verify locally

After roughly two years of drafting, the county's Zoning Commission recommended a Short-Term Rental Ordinance to the Board of Commissioners in February 2026. If you're buying specifically for cabin-rental income, see our dedicated page for Hocking County for what the draft requires and its current status.

Septic Runs Through One Countywide Health Department

Generally favorable

The Hocking County Health Department handles septic and well permitting for the entire county -- no separate city health department to track down here.

Zoning: the county has its own rural zoning commission

Hocking County has established a county rural zoning commission under Ohio Revised Code 303.04, which requires that any county proceeding under Chapter 303's county rural zoning framework create and maintain such a commission -- meaning Hocking is a county that has actually exercised its Chapter 303 authority, rather than a county where zoning is left entirely to whichever townships choose to adopt their own under Chapter 519. That distinction matters because it puts a countywide zoning process, administered through the county's Regional Planning office, in the mix alongside whatever a specific township may or may not have separately adopted.

What this research pass could not obtain is a confirmed, current breakdown of which specific townships fall under the county's zoning jurisdiction versus any township that may have adopted its own separate Chapter 519 zoning instead (which, under Ohio law, would generally take precedence in that township). Given how spread out Hocking Hills' cabin and tourism development is across multiple townships (Falls, Good Hope, Laurel, and Washington Townships all touch the Hocking Hills recreation area), confirm directly with the county Regional Planning office and the specific township trustees which zoning authority actually governs a given parcel before assuming anything about use, setback, or lot-coverage rules.

Short-term rentals: a countywide ordinance years in the making

Hocking Hills' status as one of Ohio's most visited outdoor destinations has built a cabin-rental market with genuine scale across the county's unincorporated townships -- and it's also created a genuine regulatory gap that county officials have spent roughly two years working to close. The county's Zoning Commission drafted a comprehensive, nine-page Short-Term Rental Ordinance after identifying safety concerns: reports of cabins rented without smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, or fire extinguishers, and complaints from county EMS and local fire departments that some rental cabins weren't reliably accessible in an emergency. After multiple revisions -- reaching at least a sixth working draft -- the Zoning Commission voted on Feb. 12, 2026 to recommend the ordinance (in a "clean" version dated Jan. 29, 2026) to the Board of County Commissioners, while separately asking the county prosecutor to add a clearer legal-authority section and review enforcement provisions.

As drafted, the ordinance would require an annual $50 permit, a mandatory site inspection, $1,000,000 in liability insurance, a BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) background check for the operator, compliance verification from the County Health Department, and specific driveway, parking, landscaping, and safety standards, with a one-year compliance grace period after any effective date. As of this research pass, the Board of County Commissioners had not yet confirmed final adoption -- the draft had been forwarded for legal review. Separately, and worth knowing if you're specifically eyeing land inside city limits, the City of Logan already adopted its own short-term-rental ordinance in late 2024 (a $50 application fee, a $500 annual license fee, and a required Ohio Certificate of Occupancy within one year), though most Hocking Hills cabins sit in unincorporated county and township land rather than inside Logan itself. See our dedicated short-term-rentals page for Hocking County for the ordinance's current status and what it would mean for a buyer planning rental income here.

Septic and other departments to know

For a new or replacement sewage treatment system (STS) serving a dwelling or any building generating under 1,000 gallons of waste per day, the Hocking County Health Department (350 St Rt 664N, Logan; 740-385-3030) is the sole permitting authority countywide. The process starts with an STS application before construction begins, followed by a site evaluation with an Environmental Health Specialist; installers, haulers, and service providers must separately register with the department and carry general liability insurance plus a statewide bond. The department also maintains a web-based mapping tool that shows permits already issued for private water systems and sewage treatment systems on a given parcel or nearby, which is worth checking during due diligence.

Hocking County's Board of County Commissioners -- currently Jason D'Onofrio, Andrew Davidson, and Michael Linton -- oversees the county's Regional Planning office (zoning), the Auditor (property records and GIS), and the Recorder (deeds, easements, and plats), all useful starting points once you've confirmed which zoning authority applies to a specific parcel.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Hocking County's rural zoning commission is confirmed via the county's own posted zoning-commission page citing ORC 303.04, but this pass could not obtain a confirmed township-by-township breakdown of county versus any separate township zoning. The short-term-rental ordinance timeline (roughly two years of drafting, a sixth working draft, the Feb. 12, 2026 Zoning Commission recommendation vote, and the draft's specific requirements) is drawn from NBC4/WOUB reporting and the county's own posted Jan. 29, 2026 draft PDF, but final adoption by the Board of County Commissioners was not confirmed as of this pass -- the ordinance may have since been adopted, amended, or rejected. The City of Logan's separate 2024 ordinance details are drawn from secondary reporting rather than the city's own code. Direct WebFetch to hocking.oh.gov, hockingcountyhealthdepartment.com, and loganhockingtimes.org was blocked by a network egress restriction throughout this research pass.

Verify directly with: the Hocking County Regional Planning/Zoning Commission for current zoning jurisdiction and the short-term-rental ordinance's adoption status, the City of Logan for its own separate STR ordinance if the parcel is inside city limits, and the Hocking County Health Department for septic and well permitting

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Hocking County

Direct WebFetch access to hocking.oh.gov, hockingcountyhealthdepartment.com, and loganhockingtimes.org was blocked by a network egress restriction throughout this research pass, so several details reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim site read -- confirm current staff, hours, fees, and the short-term-rental ordinance's adoption status directly before relying on this page for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning