Zoning
GB/RR/IHI paths
Current Johnston County use table lists Campgrounds - Travel Trailer Parks as permitted in GB (General Business), RR (Resort Residential), and IHI (Interstate Highway Interchange), with a 2-acre minimum.
Build the RV park only if the dirt behaves.
A 20-site RV park can be a real phase-one income engine in Johnston County. The catch is not the pads. It is zoning, wastewater, stormwater, fire access, and whether the parcel can support the business without expensive heroics.
Snapshot date: April 28, 2026. Based on the deep-dive memo at docs/rv-park-johnston-county-deep-dive.md plus the mobile tiny-home / park-model RV addendum. Underwriting, not a bid.
Current answer
20 sites is the first serious scale. Park models are the premium test.
At 20 pads, the park can plausibly throw off meaningful NOI. The clean mobile-tiny-home version is 4-8 certified park-model RVs used as rental lodging, not a permanent tiny-home village. Bureaucracy: undefeated, annoying, occasionally profitable.
Best targets: GB/RR/IHI zoning
Plan at 10 sites / usable acre
Wastewater is the choke point
Park models: 150 gpd/site
Base site count
Annual gross
Annual NOI
Simple payback
Step 1
Pressure-test the RV park math
This page keeps the research legible and lets the main inputs move. The defaults are intentionally conservative/expected-case: 20 pads, $55 ADR, 60% occupancy, 45% NOI margin, and $580k development cost before land (~$29k/site, expected build with the sitework connection holding). That is about $241k gross and $108k NOI before debt service.
Decision case
RV park phase one
Annual NOI
Monthly NOI
Cost / site
Current read
Density read
Revenue
NOI before debt service
Simple payback
Step 2
The deal lives or dies on these gates
The RV pads are the visible product. The invisible due diligence decides whether the project is cheap, painful, or dead-on-arrival.
Wastewater
Main choke point
Traditional RV design flow is 100 gpd/site. Expect PE design at about 15 sites (1,500 gpd) and State review at about 30 sites (3,000 gpd); dump stations can add review complexity.
Stormwater / fire
Engineer early
A real park likely disturbs over 1 acre and needs erosion control, stormwater design, fire access, and NCDOT driveway review.
Plain-English sewer read
RV waste is not trash. It is blackwater and graywater.
A full-hookup RV site lets guests connect a hose from their holding tanks to a capped sewer inlet at the pad. From there, the park still needs an approved destination: public sewer if capacity and distance work, or an engineered on-site wastewater/septic system if they do not.
- Full hookups raise the bar. Once a site has water, the wastewater needs to discharge to an approved system. “We’ll just add pads” is not a plan.
- Use 100 gpd per traditional RV site. Park model RVs are heavier at 150 gpd/site, which lowers the easy pilot count.
- 15 sites is the local-review edge. Around 1,500 gpd, expect the project to start needing professional wastewater design.
- 20+ sites is a real engineering question. That is the first serious business scale, but it likely needs PE involvement and enough soil/repair area to carry the flow.
- Dump stations are useful, not magic. They help operations, but tying one into on-site wastewater can trigger extra permitting and State review.
Concept add-on
Mobile tiny homes only work if they stay in the park-model RV lane
The feasible version is not “permanent tiny homes.” It is ANSI A119.5 / RVIA-certified park-model RVs used as premium rental lodging inside an approved RV park/campground, with skirting, decks, landscaping, and rules that make the product feel polished without changing the legal posture.
Best first mix
12-16 RV + 4-8 PMRV
Enough premium inventory to test demand without turning the park into a de facto tiny-home village.
Wastewater math
2,200-2,400 gpd
16 RV + 4 park models is about 2,200 gpd. 12 RV + 8 park models is about 2,400 gpd. PE design is still likely.
Do not cross
No permanent-home posture
No sold sites, permanent-residency marketing, non-certified tiny homes, tenant-built additions, mailboxes, sheds, or porch-creep chaos.
Concept
Product
Wastewater
Operating read
Base RV park
20 standard RV sites
100 gpd/site
2,000 gpd
Base case; PE design likely.
Premium pilot
16 RV + 4 park-model RVs
mixed
2,200 gpd
Best first test: more bookable product, modest wastewater bump.
Lodging-heavy pilot
12 RV + 8 park-model RVs
mixed
2,400 gpd
Still plausible if the county agrees, but the permanent-dwelling optics get louder.
County question
Ask for the classification before buying units.
“If we have an approved RV park/campground/travel-trailer-park, can 4-8 of the sites be occupied by ANSI A119.5 / RVIA-certified park-model RVs used as rental lodging, with skirting/decks/landscaping, and not as permanent dwelling units?”
Step 3
Density: ignore the fake ceiling
Theoretical math can show 54.45 sites per acre at 800 sq ft per site. That is not a buildable target. Roads, buffers, stormwater, septic repair areas, fire access, utilities, and guest experience eat the land.
Theoretical
54.45/ac
Code-math fantasy before roads and reality.
Balanced target
8-12/ac
Best underwriting lane for a decent JoCo park.
Premium / spacious
5-8/ac
Better guest feel, lower site count.
Selected plan
Step 4
Cost stack before land
The 20-site expected case is roughly $580k before land, with the sitework connection holding $40k. Budget/basic — gravel pads, a prefab bathhouse, a cooperative parcel — runs near $310k. If the sitework connection falls through, add $100k+ to either column.
Cost lane
Low/basic
High
Why it moves
Step 5
Income and value frame
Use $50-$70 ADR conservative for rural Johnston, $60-$90 only for premium/branded. The conservative math is 20 sites x $55 ADR x 60% occupancy x 365 = ~$240k gross, ~$108k NOI at 45% margin.
Cap-rate value frame
What the current NOI could be worth stabilized.
Value estimate before land/debt nuance, buyer appetite, and actual stabilization proof.
10% cap
9% cap
8% cap
Operating mix
Blend transient and extended-stay, but don't let it become a junkyard.
Recommended 20-site mix: 12 transient/weekly sites, 8 monthly/extended-stay sites, strict rules, full hookups, and no permanent-residency vibe.
$50-$70 ADR conservative for rural Johnston
$60-$90 only for premium/branded
NOI margin: 45%
Step 6
Parcel-first process
The next move is not prettier math. It is parcel-specific feasibility: zoning, Environmental Health, utility capacity, fire access, and stormwater before any hard offer.
- 1. Pre-screen zoning. Favor existing or plausible GB (General Business), RR (Resort Residential), or IHI (Interstate Highway Interchange) parcels near I-95, I-40, US-70, NC-42, or commercial edges.
- 2. Call Planning with parcel ID. Ask whether the use is permitted, conditional, special-use, or rezoning-only under current rules.
- 3. Run wastewater first. Get soil/septic feasibility and clarify whether the design needs LHD-only review, PE design around 15 sites, or State review around 30 sites.
- 4. Check water/sewer and power. Public water and nearby sewer materially improve the thesis. Bad soils plus no sewer is a hard yellow flag.
- 5. Sketch 20 sites and a 30-site expansion. Keep stormwater, septic repair, fire access, and future utility loops from fighting each other.
Other lanes
If the parcel can't carry an RV park
The phase-one suite has three lanes. They live or die on different parcel attributes. If eligible RV-park zoning, wastewater, or stormwater break this lane, the next-best fits are below.
Fallback A
Agritourism glamping
If GB/RR/IHI zoning is a no-go, AR land with a real working farm is the friendlier door. Fewer units, gentler entitlement, requires bona-fide farm posture.
Fallback B
Tiny-cabin neighborhood
If the wastewater path is workable but commercial RV use is not, 2-4 STR cabins on AR with a subdivision path keeps the family-land optionality alive.
Sources
What this page is built on
The full written memo is the source of truth for the narrative detail. This page is the visual/executive version.
Full memodocs/rv-park-johnston-county-deep-dive.md
Park-model tiny homesFeasibility addendum for mobile tiny homes inside the RV park.
Johnston County PlanningRezoning process and staff review path.
NC DHHS RV wastewaterDesign flow, LHD/PE/State review guidance.
JoCo erosion control1-acre disturbance, plan requirements, closeout.
Four Oaks RV ResortLocal rate comp in Johnston County.
North Pointe RV ResortSelma daily/weekly/monthly comp.
Underwriting ranges are estimates. Confirm zoning, wastewater capacity, stormwater obligations, driveway/fire access, utility capacity, and public-hearing risk before relying on this for a parcel offer.