A tiny house or RV home in Custer County is a permit question

A wide-open parcel in the Wet Mountain Valley can make tiny-house or RV living look like a simple thing to set up. The paperwork tells a more specific story. A special permit covers tiny houses built on foundations and recreational vehicles used as a primary residence, and both are subject to the county’s zoning regulations.

The pivotal words are primary residence. Camping for a weekend, parking an RV while you build, and actually living in an RV year-round are three different land-use questions, and only the last one trips the permit. The same trailer can be fine one month and a code problem the next, depending on how you use it.

So before buying land with a small-living plan in mind, ask Planning and Zoning what that exact parcel allows. Walk through the zoning district, the septic path, the address and access, and whether the structure you have in mind counts as a dwelling at all. A lot priced for a dream cabin may not pencil out once a legal septic system and a permitted dwelling enter the math.

There is a real path here, not a closed door. The county is not saying you cannot live small in the valley. It is saying there is a permit for it, and the property has to fit that permit before you move in.