Off-Grid Living in Richmond, Massachusetts

Richmond, Massachusetts is a small, rural Berkshire County town, and it's worth being clear right away: this is NOT unzoned land. Richmond has a Zoning Bylaw (last updated May 2024) and a Zoning Map, administered by the Planning Board under state authority (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A, Section 5, which governs how towns adopt and amend zoning). The town includes overlay districts, including a Wetlands/Water Resource overlay, layered on top of underlying use districts. If a rule in the overlay conflicts with the underlying district, the overlay generally controls; otherwise the underlying district's rules apply.

I want to be honest about a gap here: I was not able to pull the specific dimensional and use tables for each district, so I can't tell you the exact rules for occupying raw or undeveloped land, or whether there's a minimum dwelling size or explicit RV-as-residence rule. That level of detail needs a direct check with the Planning Board or the Building Inspector's office.

On construction, Richmond's Building Inspector / Zoning Enforcement Office (currently Paul Greene, per the town website) enforces the state building code plus town bylaws for any construction, alteration, or demolition. That includes off-grid builds. There's no carve-out for going off-grid, any electrical work, including solar, still needs to meet the state electrical code and typically a licensed electrician's sign-off.

Septic is where Massachusetts is very consistent statewide: Title 5 (310 CMR 15.000, a state regulation from the Department of Environmental Protection, MassDEP) sets the baseline for on-site wastewater systems, and it's the property owner's job to stay compliant. Locally, Richmond's Board of Health is the permitting authority for new septic construction, working alongside the Building Department. Composting toilets fall under this same Title 5 framework and would need Board of Health sign-off.

Greywater doesn't get a special exemption in Richmond as far as I found. No local bylaw loosens the state rule, so greywater is treated like wastewater under Title 5, meaning it generally needs an approved soil absorption system rather than informal disposal.

Rainwater harvesting: I found no Richmond-specific ordinance on this either way. That likely means it falls under general state plumbing/building code defaults, but I'd call the Building Department to confirm before setting up an indoor-use system.

Private wells are permitted, and the Board of Health handles siting and construction oversight as part of its general sanitary code authority, though I didn't find Richmond's specific well regulation text.

Bottom line on utilities: living off-grid (no municipal water/sewer/electric hookup) isn't itself illegal, but whatever you build still has to pass through the same state and town code review as a grid-connected home.