Off-Grid Living in Somerset, Massachusetts

I'll be upfront: Somerset, Massachusetts is not an off-grid haven. It's a fully zoned town on the Massachusetts coast near Fall River, and everything you'd want to do off-grid here runs through either the town's Building Department, its Board of Health, or the state (MassDEP, and the state building code 780 CMR). Here's what I found digging through the town's own pages.

Zoning. Somerset has a real zoning bylaw, administered by the Building Inspector acting as Zoning Enforcement Officer. There are Residential, Business, Industrial, and Limited/Light Industrial districts, plus overlays including a Watershed Protection & Water Resources Protection District and a Floodplain District covering flood hazard zones. Whatever you're planning, raw land use is going to be shaped by which district it sits in, and I'd call the Building Inspector's office before assuming anything is allowed by right.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I could not find Somerset-specific text on minimum dwelling size, tiny houses, or living in an RV full time. The bylaw's dimensional regulations section likely touches this, but the specifics weren't in what I could pull, so treat this as unclear and confirm with the Building Department.

Building permits. The Building Department issues building, mechanical, plumbing, gas, and electrical permits. I did find concrete detail here: sheds under 200 square feet don't need a permit, but 200 sq ft or larger do. Accessory structures 120 sq ft or bigger need a 15-foot setback; smaller ones need only 5 feet. Good detail to know if you're thinking about small outbuildings.

Septic and composting toilets. This is a joint state/local process. You'd start with both the Board of Health and the Building Department, since permits come from each separately. The Board of Health decides if MassDEP needs to weigh in, and MassDEP under Title 5 only reviews after the Board of Health makes its call. No town-specific septic bylaw text turned up beyond that Title 5 process.

Greywater and rainwater. I found nothing Somerset-specific on either. That means the Massachusetts Title 5 baseline (which is restrictive on indoor greywater reuse) is what applies by default. Outdoor rainwater collection is generally fine under state rules, but confirm with the Board of Health if you're planning anything beyond a simple rain barrel.

Wells. Permitted, but under Board of Health oversight, and the Watershed Protection & Water Resources Protection District (mapped back in 2008) is layered into the zoning bylaw for water resource areas. No specific well-siting rule text was available, so check with the Board of Health directly.

Utility disconnection. No Somerset bylaw speaks to living off-grid or disconnecting from utilities directly. But any electrical or solar work you do still has to meet the state building code and go through Building Department permitting.

Bottom line: Somerset isn't hostile to off-grid elements like wells or septic, but it's a conventionally zoned town where the Building Department and Board of Health are going to be your two most important calls.