Hayesville

Ashland County's primary cross-county overlay is FEMA NFIP floodplain regulation, administered by the county's floodplain administrator for unincorporated territory under the county's NFIP participation. There is no countywide coastal overlay (Ashland is inland), no wildland-urban-interface fire overlay analogous to western states, and no countywide historic-preservation overlay - the City of Ashland and a handful of village downtowns maintain their own historic-district designations but those are municipal, not county. The Mohican State Forest and the Mohican-Memorial State Park complex in the southern part of the county (Hanover and Green Townships, near Loudonville) create de facto development constraints because much of that land is publicly owned and not subject to private ADU development, but they are not zoning overlays per se. Stream-corridor and Mohican River floodplain regulation is the most operationally significant overlay an ADU applicant in Ashland County is likely to encounter.

• FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas in Ashland County — City of Ashland operates its own FEMA Flood Map portal at https://gis.ashland-ohio.com/portal/home/item.html?id=257eab06a5ec41dbb1c30ba397520a40 for parcels inside the city; unincorporated parcels are administered by the county. Critical facilities must be sited outside the SFHA when feasible.
• Mohican State Forest and Mohican-Memorial State Park — Hanover Township, which contains much of the state-forest land, is itself unzoned at the township level - any ADU built on private inholdings or adjacent private parcels there is constrained primarily by Ohio Building Code, floodplain regulation, and septic/well requirements rather than by township zoning.
• Unzoned townships: Hanover and Mohican — Even in unzoned townships, applicants should expect to obtain an Ohio Building Code permit, a floodplain permit if applicable, and a septic permit. The absence of township zoning does not mean absence of all regulation.

Permit responsibility in unincorporated Ashland County is split three ways and the County Engineer is NOT one of the three. (1) Township zoning permits for residential construction (including ADUs as accessory residential structures, where allowed) are issued by the zoning inspector of the township the parcel sits in - applicants must contact the specific township inspector directly. (2) The Ohio Building Code residential standard is administered for unincorporated areas by the City of Ashland Building and Zoning Department's Engineering Office under a service contract; commercial construction in unincorporated territory also routes to that office. (3) Floodplain development permits in unincorporated areas are administered by the county's designated floodplain administrator under the county's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. The Ashland County Engineer (1511 Cleveland Ave, Ashland OH 44805, (419) 282-4281) explicitly issues no zoning or building permits; the Engineer's office handles right-of-way permits and special-hauling permits only. An ADU project in unincorporated Ashland County therefore typically requires: a township zoning permit (if the township is zoned), a building permit from the City of Ashland Building and Zoning Department, a floodplain development permit if mapped in an SFHA, on-site sewage approval from Ashland County Health Department where no public sewer is available, and an address assignment.