ADU Pass
Coshocton County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Coshocton County, Ohio navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 9 cities and 13 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Coshocton County, Ohio (rural Appalachian-edge county at the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers forming the Muskingum River; ~36,000 residents; county seat City of Coshocton; 22 townships - Adams, Bedford, Bethlehem, Clark, Crawford, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Keene, Lafayette, Linton, Mill Creek, Monroe, New Castle, Oxford, Perry, Pike, Tiverton, Tuscarawas, Virginia, Washington, and White Eyes; incorporated places City of Coshocton (statutory city, ~11,121 residents), Villages of West Lafayette, Warsaw, Conesville, Plainfield, and Nellie) does NOT operate a countywide zoning ordinance under O.R.C. Chapter 303 and has not adopted county-tier residential land-use regulation. Ohio is a home-rule state under Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution; counties may adopt county zoning under O.R.C. Chapter 303 but most do not (Lake County is the canonical Ohio county that does), and Coshocton County has not. Townships in Coshocton County may adopt zoning resolutions under O.R.C. Chapter 519, but as of 2026-05 most Coshocton County townships have NO township zoning resolution in force, leaving unincorporated parcels effectively unzoned for land-use purposes. The county does not operate a residential building department; residential plan review and inspection for one- and two-family dwellings in unincorporated Coshocton County falls to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Industrial Compliance (DIC) under the Ohio Residential Code (OAC 4101:8). Commercial construction is handled by the Mid-East Ohio Building Department, a regional certified building department headquartered in Zanesville (Muskingum County) that serves Coshocton plus Belmont, Guernsey, Morgan, and Perry counties under interagency contract. The county's coordinating planning body is the Coshocton County Regional Planning Commission (RPC), led by Joshua D. Kempf, P.E., P.S. (who also serves as Coshocton County Engineer); the RPC reviews subdivision plats and property divisions under the county's adopted Subdivision Regulations (last revised 2017) but does not regulate ADU use or impose ADU-specific standards. ADU permissibility in unincorporated Coshocton County therefore turns on (1) whether the parcel is in a township with zoning (a minority), (2) whether the parcel is inside city or village limits (in which case the City of Coshocton, West Lafayette, Warsaw, Conesville, Plainfield, or Nellie code applies), and (3) whether the parcel can support a second septic field under OAC 3701-29 capacity rules administered by the Coshocton Public Health District.
County assessor
Assessment policy: The Coshocton County Auditor (Grant K. Daugherty, 2026) is the elected property-assessment authority under O.R.C. § 5713.01. Ohio assesses real property at 35% of true value (O.R.C. § 5713.03). New ADU construction is added to the parcel record on the next regular revaluation cycle and reassessed at true value as of January 1 following completion. The Coshocton County Auditor's sexiennial reappraisal cycle (every six years under O.R.C. § 5713.01) with mandatory triennial updates between reappraisals (O.R.C. § 5715.24) governs how quickly an ADU shows up in the parcel valuation. The Ohio Owner Occupancy Credit (O.R.C. § 323.151 et seq.) provides a 2.5% reduction in tax on owner-occupied homestead; the Homestead Exemption (O.R.C. § 323.152) reduces taxable value by $25,000 for owners 65+ or totally and permanently disabled, subject to income tests. Coshocton County also administers Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) under O.R.C. § 5713.30 - § 5713.38 - a significant program here because much of the county is enrolled CAUV farmland (the Auditor explicitly publishes CAUV soil values per state law). An ADU built on a CAUV parcel may trigger a partial recoupment (rollback) if the dwelling reduces the parcel's qualifying agricultural acreage below the CAUV threshold; CAUV reviewers in Coshocton County examine ADU additions case-by-case. Under O.R.C. § 5713.17, the owner must notify the Auditor of any construction or improvement valued over $2,000.
County overlays (5)
Known county issues (6)
- other — Researchers should verify the township for any specific parcel before assuming ADU prohibition or permission. Parcels in unzoned townships have unusually permissive ADU conditions for Ohio, constrained mainly by septic capacity, floodplain, and (where applicable) Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District easements. Parcels in the few zoned townships and inside the City of Coshocton or its five villages require municipality-specific review.
- other — ADU applicants must coordinate across four or five separate state, regional, and county agencies rather than a single one-stop county counter. Lead times are correspondingly longer; DIC inspector trip routing and Mid-East trips from Zanesville add friction relative to counties with their own staff. Same person (Joshua D. Kempf, P.E., P.S.) serves as both County Engineer and Regional Planning Commission director, which consolidates two of the five touchpoints at one office at the courthouse annex.
- other — Coshocton County's city-tier rollup will need to exclude or annotate these two entries when Phase 8 city research is generated. Their populations (Danville ~1,018; Brinkhaven ~193) should not be attributed to Coshocton County in downstream demographic aggregations.
- other — Adds an additional regulatory touchpoint on a subset of parcels (primarily in Linton, Franklin, and Tiverton townships). ADU economics on MWCD-leased recreation parcels are constrained by the lease terms themselves; conversion of seasonal cabins to year-round ADUs may be prohibited under the lease.
- other — ADU economics in Coshocton County are typically dominated by septic and site-prep costs, not by permit fees or zoning. Researchers projecting ADU build cost in unincorporated Coshocton County should use a septic-cost band of $12,000-$30,000 (advanced system probable) rather than the $5,000-$10,000 conventional band typical for flatter Ohio counties. Parcels with documented undermine workings (consult ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management abandoned-mine map) may require engineered foundation designs.
- policy-review — Researchers should monitor the Ohio General Assembly for any future ADU preemption proposal; until one passes, Coshocton County remains in the rare position where unincorporated unzoned-township parcels are de facto permissive without any state preemption being needed.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.