Zoning, Coding, Local Ordinances

We're starting our search for land and have been hitting a bit of a road block when it comes to zoning, coding, local ordinances, and such. We're looking to purchase raw land in the upper Lower Peninsula or mid Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In a perfect world, we would like to build a little cordwood house with a rocket mass heater, composting toilet, and a rain water catchment/gray water system of sorts. Trying to search online has brought us no where really, other than finding out that the state of Michigan allows composting toilets, gray water, and rain catchment systems but of course, it depends on each individual county. So, where do we go from here? Contact each county we're interested in individually? If so, would anyone like to type up a draft email, so I don't sound like a hippie dip crazy who they're afraid of moving to their town, hah.

May I suggest calling the City Hall in a county that has a piece of land you're interested in. If you ask to speak to someone regarding building codes & permits, you'll get the right person who can answer your questions. I'm building a home, and I assumed there are building codes everywhere, but when I walked into city hall to get a building permit, the guy told me I didn't need one, since I was outside of city limits in rural county. He said it came up on a ballot a few years back and the county residents that voted opted out of having building codes outside of city limits. I still had to have an electrical permit & inspection (that's national, and is required everywhere) and a septic permit & inspection, but nothing else.

Counties often have a website which will contain the sort of information you're looking for.  That's where I would start, with a search for county websites and rooting through their online info.

https://www.michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-29701_31713_31714_31720-97053--,00.html