Accessory Structures in Camden County, MO (2026)

ADU Rules

Camden County's planning and zoning authority is unusually limited - it covers only the area within five miles of the Lake of the Ozarks shoreline (the 'Camden County Zoning District'), as authorized by Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 64 and approved by Camden County voters in 1997. Inside that lakefront zoning district, Camden County's Unified Land-Use Code (ULUC), effective June 1, 2004 and amended through 2022, applies. The ULUC's residential districts (R-1 Low Density, R-2 Medium Density, R-3 High Density / Multi-Family) treat one detached single-family dwelling as the principal permitted use; a true 'accessory dwelling unit' is not a separately defined permitted use, so a second residence on a lot generally requires either rezoning, a conditional use permit, or placement in R-3 (multi-family) or a planned development. Outside the five-mile lake zoning district, Camden County has no county zoning at all - state law (RSMo Chapter 64) does not let non-charter, third-class counties impose general zoning, so unincorporated rural Camden County land beyond the lake corridor is governed only by septic, road, floodplain, and building/sewer permits, not by use-based zoning. Cities such as Camdenton, Lake Ozark, Osage Beach, Sunrise Beach and Linn Creek have their own separate municipal codes that supersede the county ULUC inside their corporate limits.