Auglaize County

Permitting for new construction in unincorporated Auglaize County is split across four desks rather than concentrated in a single county building department, because the county itself does not issue building permits or operate a county zoning office. The County Engineer's 'Building in Rural Auglaize County' guide (www2.auglaizecounty.org/elected-officials/engineer/building-rural-auglaize-county) is the operative process map. An ADU project must clear: (1) Township Trustees -- township zoning approval and the township building permit; (2) Auglaize County Health Department -- site/soil approval and household sewage treatment system (HSTS) permit, plus private water-well permit where applicable; (3) Auglaize County Engineer -- driveway/culvert permit and floodplain development permit, plus 911 address assignment via the County Tax Map office; (4) Ohio Building Code residential plan review under OAC 4101:8, where the township enforces it (small townships often defer to a state-certified inspector or to a neighboring city's inspection contract). The county is small (46,422 residents per 2020 census; 45,909 estimated 2025), so most projects move on paper at the township-trustee level rather than through an online portal.

Process overview: Per the County Engineer's published workflow: (1) before purchase, get tentative HSTS site approval from the Health Department (419-738-3410); (2) call the relevant Township Trustees to confirm zoning and flood-history (trustee phone list available from the Engineer's office at 419-739-6520); (3) check the FEMA FIRM at the Engineer's office and inquire about LOMA eligibility; (4) coordinate with Auglaize Soil & Water Conservation (419-738-4016) on surface-drainage outlets; (5) at lot-split, retain a Registered Professional Surveyor (county subdivision regs) and obtain the 911 house number from the Tax Map office (419-739-6740); (6) pull permits in this order -- HSTS and well from Health, building permit from Township Trustees, driveway/culvert permit from County/Township/State whichever maintains the abutting road; (7) call OUPS at 1-800-362-2764 before any excavation. For an ADU, the same sequence applies, but the township zoning step is the binding gate -- most township books do not list 'second dwelling unit' as a permitted accessory use, so the realistic ADU path in unincorporated Auglaize is (a) a use variance from the Township Board of Zoning Appeals, or (b) a conversion/addition that does not create a separate dwelling unit under the Ohio Building Code's two-family-dwelling definition.

Impact fees: Auglaize County does not levy a county impact fee on residential additions in unincorporated territory. Township building-permit fees are set per township and are typically modest (low hundreds of dollars). The Health Department charges per-permit fees for HSTS site review, install permit, and inspections; the Engineer charges per-permit fees for driveway/culvert work. There is no consolidated county fee schedule because no county building department exists.

In Ohio the County Auditor -- not a separately titled assessor -- is the chief county assessing officer. Auglaize County Auditor (Linda Bice, as of 2026-05) maintains parcel-level real-estate records and conducts the statutorily required sexennial reappraisal and triennial update of real-property values, per Ohio Revised Code Title 57. Public parcel search and value lookup is at auditoraccess.auglaizecounty.org. New construction -- including an ADU -- is captured on the tax roll the year following completion through field review (the Auditor's appraisers physically inspect new improvements flagged by township building permits and by aerial-imagery change detection). The Auditor's office also administers the Ohio homestead exemption (O.R.C. 323.151-159) and the 2.5 percent owner-occupied tax reduction, both of which apply to the principal dwelling on the parcel and not separately to an attached or detached ADU.

Assessment policy: Ohio assesses real property at 35 percent of true (market) value (O.R.C. 5715.01). Auglaize's most recent sexennial reappraisal and triennial-update cycle dates follow the Ohio Department of Taxation rolling schedule (consult the Auditor for the active year). An ADU's improvement value is added to the host parcel's assessed value at the next regular update following completion; the host structure retains its prior valuation cycle. The 2.5 percent reduction and homestead exemption attach to the parcel's principal dwelling -- a rented ADU does not gain a second homestead. Auglaize County 2026 effective millage varies materially by taxing district (township + school district + JVS + library + park); the Auditor's per-parcel tax-bill page is the authoritative computation source.

Auglaize County administers three overlay-style layers that affect ADU feasibility: (1) a countywide Floodplain Regulation (2025 revision, effective with the December 11, 2025 FIRM/FIS update) -- the county is the NFIP floodplain administrator for unincorporated territory and for participating municipalities that have not adopted their own; (2) Airport Zoning around Neil Armstrong Airport (KAXV) at Wapakoneta, published alongside the township zoning books; (3) two large state-managed lakes -- Grand Lake St. Marys (shared with Mercer County, shoreline at the City of St. Marys and Saint Marys / Jackson / Logan Townships) and the western end of Lake Loramie (shared with Shelby County) -- where lakefront parcels carry FEMA AE-zone exposure plus Ohio EPA harmful-algal-bloom history that has driven septic-failure enforcement and intermittent state-park water-advisory postings. Auglaize is not in a CAL-FIRE-style WUI fire regime and has no coastal exposure; historic districts are administered by individual municipalities (most notably Wapakoneta's downtown and the New Bremen / Minster canal-heritage areas) rather than at the county level.

• Auglaize County Floodplain Regulations (2025 revision) and FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas — FIRM/FIS revision date of 2025-12-11 is recent -- parcels that were Zone X under the older FIRM may be newly within SFHA. Pull the current FIRM at intake.
• Neil Armstrong Airport (KAXV) Airport Zoning — Practically affects only parcels in Duchouquet and Pusheta Townships immediately around the airport.
• Grand Lake St. Marys shoreline (Ohio EPA HAB-impaired waterbody) — Lake Loramie's western fingers also touch the southern edge of Auglaize County (Washington Township) but the lake's main body and shoreline are in Shelby County.
• Local historic districts (administered by municipalities, not the county)