Off-Grid Living in Greenwich, Connecticut

I'll be upfront: Greenwich, Connecticut is about as far from a "no rules" off-grid haven as you'll find in New England. It's a fully zoned town operating under Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 124 and its own Building Zone Regulations (BZRs), enforced by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Enforcement Office. If you're picturing a cabin tucked off the grid on a back acre here with no permits, that's not how this town works.

Zoning in Greenwich is detailed and use-based. Every new structure or occupancy has to clear a zoning compliance review before the Building Department will even accept a building permit application, per the town's Zoning Enforcement page. This is a real gatekeeping step, not a formality.

Dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs aren't addressed specifically in anything I found on the town's site. What I can confirm is that any dwelling needs a Zoning Permit and a Zoning Certificate of Occupancy signed off by both the Zoning Enforcement Officer and the Building Official. Whether a tiny house on wheels or an RV could qualify as a permanent residence is not confirmed, so I'd call the Zoning Enforcement Office directly before assuming anything.

Building permits run through the Greenwich Building Department under the statewide code. Nothing gets built without going through this office first.

Septic systems are permitted and inspected by the Health Department's Division of Environmental Services, which reviews soil tests and engineered designs before approving installation. Composting toilets aren't mentioned anywhere on the town's materials I could find, so treat that as an open question for the Health Department.

Greywater reuse has no dedicated town ordinance that I could find, which tracks with Connecticut having no specific statewide greywater statute either. That leaves it genuinely unclear, so ask the Health Department how they'd handle it in practice.

Rainwater harvesting isn't addressed by a Greenwich-specific rule either. My best read is that the town defaults to the State Building Code's rainwater collection provisions, administered locally through the Building Department if a permit is needed for the system.

Private wells go through the Health Department too, which reviews and approves well drilling permits and issues a Permit to Construct once the driller's application is approved. Fees reportedly update annually, so don't take last year's number as current.

Going fully off-grid, disconnected from municipal utilities, isn't explicitly banned in what I found, but the Health Department's septic sign-off requirements (including reserving space for a "100% Replacement Area" for any future septic system) mean your occupancy approval is tightly linked to having code-compliant water and sewage in place. That's a real practical constraint even without an explicit ordinance saying "you must connect to utilities."

Bottom line: Greenwich is a paperwork-heavy town for anything off-grid, and its zoning and health departments are the two offices you'll be dealing with most.