Around Cleveland (Texas) a lot of these are going up in “unincorporated” areas where there is no “local” government overseeing codes. Obviously things like the NEC still apply via state laws and national liability case law.
But in Texas roads between houses and apartments are “Private” if all routes to access it from public roads are gated. Being a private road means the government won’t pay for any of its construction of maintenance, but also means that you can construct it however you want (only caring about liability for negligence etc).
In Michigan, there’s not even a requirement for the road to be gated, you just declare the road “private” and usually that will be indicated on the street sign.
Personally I’d love to get land in an unincorporated area, but definitely not under an HOA. The point of unincorporated land for me is to be able to build a house that’s “too small” or “the wrong color” or install a bunch of large equipment and use it responsibly.
Pretty sure its all legal, we're very rural. In this county you don't need building permits or anything. I think they began insisting on inspection of septic and well installations 20 and 10 years ago, respectively; but other than that its pretty free-for-all.
