Running a Tent Campground on Your Land

A Lighter Build, Not an Unregulated One

The appeal of a tent campground over an RV campground is real: you generally do not need to run electrical service or full sewer hookups to every site, which removes the biggest cost and permitting hurdle covered in our RV campground guide. What you do need is an access road, cleared and reasonably level tent pads, a reliable potable water source, and -- this is the part new operators underestimate -- a sanitation plan that satisfies your state or county health department. "It's just camping" is not how most state health codes see a paying campground, even a primitive one.

Sanitation Ratios Are the Real Regulatory Hurdle

States that regulate campgrounds through their health departments typically set a minimum ratio of toilets to campsites, and the specific numbers vary a lot. As real examples: Colorado requires at least one toilet and one lavatory per sex for every 15 campsites; Indiana requires one toilet per sex per 30 dependent sites once a campground exceeds 100 sites; Wisconsin requires one additional toilet per sex for every 75 sites beyond the first 100; and Virginia's temporary-campground rule requires at least one portable toilet per 75 campers, with at least one meeting ADA requirements. Minnesota's rule requires toilet facilities within 400 feet of any campsite that lacks its own facilities. None of these numbers are interchangeable between states -- pull your own state's campground or recreational-camping-area code before you plan site count.

• Colorado: 1 toilet + 1 lavatory per sex per 15 campsites.
• Indiana: 1 toilet per sex per 30 dependent sites (campgrounds over 100 sites).
• Wisconsin: 1 additional toilet per sex per 75 sites beyond the first 100.
• Virginia: 1 portable toilet per 75 campers, at least one ADA-compliant.
• Minnesota: toilet facilities within 400 feet of any site without its own.

Vault Privies, Wells, and Water Supply

If you use vault or pit privies instead of connecting flush toilets to a septic system, siting rules apply separately from the ratio rules above: Wisconsin, for example, prohibits placing a vault privy within 15 feet of a campsite or an occupied building, while Colorado requires at least 50 feet of separation from any well or spring and at least 25 feet from any lake, stream, or watercourse. If you are running a septic-connected bathhouse instead, it needs to be sized and perc-tested for camper-season flow the same way a commercial system would be -- our national septic systems and well water guides cover the underlying process, but the campground-specific flow and siting numbers come from your state health code, not those general guides.

Fire Safety and Site Layout

NFPA 1194, the Standard for Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds, covers tent camping areas as well as RV sites, and its scope extends to environmental sanitation and fire-safety planning, which your state or local fire marshal may reference when reviewing your layout. Practically, this shows up as required clearances around campfire rings and fire pits, site spacing to slow fire spread between tents, and -- in many Western and drought-prone states -- separate seasonal burn ordinances or fire-danger restrictions that can suspend open fires on your property regardless of what your own site plan allows.

Zoning and Seasonal Operation

A tent campground is still a commercial use, so it still generally needs the same kind of special or conditional use permit an RV park needs, even if the county's physical infrastructure requirements are lighter. Where it sometimes differs in practice is seasonality: many tent campgrounds operate only part of the year, which can affect how a county treats road wear, water system inspection frequency, and staffing/permit renewal timing -- ask your zoning office how seasonal operations are handled before assuming a year-round RV park's rules apply unchanged.