Permitting a yurt

[Clean Air Yurts]

In New York State, greywater has to be treated in a certified septic system. This is stupid, but the rules. They allow composting toilets, but only commercial certified models and say that the waste has to be disposed of in a septic system of landfill.

All that and still the New York State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a website telling people to use greywater systems and how great they are. So you conflicting opinions, but the health codes apparently pull rank in this case.

[Diamond]

Has anyone successfully obtained a Building Consent for a Yurt in New Zealand, in Canterbury in particular?
I would be keen to hear from anyone who has done this. I presume most of the Yurts here are unconsented.

[HawaiiYurts]

I know that

Colorado Yurts

have shipped yurts to New Zealand. They had a vendor there for a while, not sure if they still do or not. They'd be a good source to connect with.

Many yurts around the world are more of a traditional design. Hand built and beautiful in their own right, but the permitting departments don't see them as being predictable. Predictability is KEY in permitting and codes.

The real quality companies that build the modern, North American variety of yurt have their engineering specs in order PROVING predictability. These are the yurt makers you'll need to work with if you want to permit. That's how we got them permittable here in Hawaii. We fought the law and... We won .

Colorado Yurts

have been fantastic in helping us modify when needed to meet changing codes.

Keep us posted. And if you need engineering done or plans, let me know and I'll give you some good contacts.

[HawaiiYurts]

New York properties are often divvied up small and close together... I know upstate is different, but for state codes, it makes sense that they wouldn't want grey water systems running rampant.

That said, I wonder if there is anything in the codes that you might be missing. Many areas will say 'cesspool or septic with proper leech field, engineered' is required, but there is an accessory clause that allows for a compost toilet that is NSA approved, as long as there is also an engineered grey water system. What this ends up meaning most of the time is that there is no cost savings in planning or installation. But there's satisfaction if you're aiming at that strictly for non-financial reasons...

[todd.stowers]

I just built a 33' yurt in curry county or. Althought I didn't initionally apply for permit I did get a stop work order from the county. After meeting with building official, he let me hinish platform and erect yurt, after I had provided him with engendered plan. His main concern was wind load and

insulation

issued. Bottom line was they would rather not permit structures as permanant building, instead calling it an out-building. With the understanding I "someday " will build another structure on siite.

[Dorishaktiblue]

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has permitted a yurt in CT. I fear I may be up against a real monster in our building permit dept in our little redneck town of Seymour.

[Bob Rowlands]

My

yurt platform

here in CO sits on 4" thick, 12" wide concrete pads laying on top of the ground. Not buried. Technically it isn't anchored to the ground by a bonafide foundation so no permit required. Possibly that would work there?

[Yurt]

Originally Posted by Dorishaktiblue

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has permitted a yurt in CT. I fear I may be up against a real monster in our building permit dept in our little redneck town of Seymour.

Its one of the most heavily bureaucratic states I've ever known, but building departments are very case-by-case.

Some of them are actually a helpful and positive entity (that occasionally have to tell people no but are mostly there to assist people) , others are authoritarian hellholes full of people who could drive Gandhi to violence.

I can't answer your question specifically but I can say that if it turns out your property is located in the latter, just sell it and move on. Life is WAY too short to fight those morons.

[zschwarzmiller]

Originally Posted by mcdm007

Does anyone have any information on the counties that are "pro yurt" ? That is to say I would like to build a yurt in an area that I can live in it full time. Small acreage preferably. Any help in the areas of Washington and Oregon would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

I am very preliminary in my research but I have seen yurts in klickitat county and have spoken with the county planner - they are complaint driven county and fairly easy to obtain conditional use permits as well

[Gummery]

Very glad to see this thread still alive. We are looking into putting up a 30' yurt as a primary residence in Northern OR or Southern WA (Considering counties Cowlitz, Columbia, Skamania, Klickitat.) Still looking at suitable land (what we can afford really depends on whether we have to finance a stick built house or can put the down payment on more acreage and live in a yurt for a few years.)

Does anyone have any information or know of where to find info on permits?

We spoke to several people at

Pacific Yurts

and they really don't know much about permanent structure permits. They might know one guy in Pacific County WA who may have obtained a New Single Family Residence permit (Hello Sir! Are you on this forum?) They said most people seemed to just put up yurts as "temporary structures" or as "non-residential structures" on land with residence already built.

Concerns (in no particular order) are:

"Temporary structure" according to code definitions can only be kept up a max of 180 days, after which the county can demand you take it down. Or so they say.

We can't be fully off-grid as we need reliable power for a home office and a suitable off-grid power system would be prohibitively expensive. Composting toilet and DIY gray water system are fine by us - but has anyone had success in getting permits? For the power, I've seen people on forums mention putting up a barn/shed structure (which we would have anyways), running power to it (with permit) and then transferring to a sub-panel for the yurt. Anyone have or know of direct experience with doing something like this? Can one really get a pole installed by the utility co to run 100amps to a glorified chicken coop?

Insulation

: as others have mentioned,

Pacific Yurts

confirmed that the most likely sticking point is that their reflective insulation isn't designed to meet minimum R values. However, my understanding is WA building code (not sure about OR but probably similar) allows for a residential structure to pass energy efficiency inspection even if R-value minimums aren't met, PROVIDED that the thermal envelope of the whole structure meets certain overall requirements. So do any forum members know if/how a yurt can be made to meet said requirements?

Any other advice? Or has everyone gone the "what they don't know can't hurt me" route and avoided permits?

I'm not a big fan of being told what I can do on my own property if I'm

heating

an uninsured structure with a wood stove fueled by my own wood, but I believe in being realistic: if the county requires you to have a permit, they can make your life very difficult until you get one. Pacific Yurts rep told us about one situation in which the chief inspector decided to make it his personal mission to ensure that a customer could not put up a residential yurt. IIRC this was in Polk County (where Pacific Yurts is headquartered.)