In Rural Polk County, No Development Permit Means No Power Hookup

A lot of folks putting up a house or a barn out in the county get tripped up by this one: a residential development permit does more than satisfy the county. It's also what the utility wants to see before they'll connect electricity. No permit, no power. The county requires that permit before you build, add a structure, or add onto an existing one, and the electric hookup rides on the same approval.

Whether you even deal with the county depends on which side of a city line you're on. If your land sits inside Corrigan, Livingston, or Onalaska, you go to that city hall instead: Corrigan at 936-398-4126, Livingston at 936-327-4311, Onalaska at 936-646-5376. Everything outside those limits runs through the county permit office at 602 E. Church Street in Livingston, 936-327-6820, ext. 1.

And if any part of your build sits in the floodplain (common near the Trinity River and Lake Livingston), you'll need an elevation certificate in hand before the county will even sell you the permit. Get that squared away before you've got a contractor and a concrete truck on the calendar.