Saint Johns

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)

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.