Off-Grid Living in Granby, Massachusetts

Granby, Massachusetts is a fully zoned town, and that surprises some people who assume rural = unregulated. It isn't. The Zoning Bylaw, adopted under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A, governs how land can be used, built on, and occupied across town, and the Planning Board maintains the district and overlay maps. Worth knowing: Granby is currently working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission on a phased rewrite of that bylaw, so provisions you read today could shift. Always check the current version with the Planning Board before you plan around anything.

If you're looking at raw land, residential subdivisions that require approval under M.G.L. Chapter 41 have to follow Granby's Agricultural Land and Development Standards and Site Design Standards, with Site Plan Approval coming from the Planning Board. That's a real process, not a rubber stamp.

On dwellings, I did not find a Granby-specific tiny-home minimum-size rule or an RV-as-dwelling clause in the bylaw text I could access. That doesn't mean anything goes, it means you need to call the Building Department directly, since the Building Official is the one who determines your zoning classification and points you to whichever other departments apply.

Building permits themselves fall under the town's Inspection Services/Building Department, which enforces the Massachusetts State Building Code (780 CMR), the state Architectural Access Board rules (521 CMR), and local zoning together. Any structure, and that includes off-grid power or water setups, needs to go through them.

Septic is where Granby stands out. The Board of Health has its own regulations that go beyond the state's Title 5 minimums, in areas like when percolation tests can be done, leach field sizing above Title 5 minimums, and separation from the water table. I could only confirm the existence and general thrust of these local rules through the Board of Health's own reference to "Draft Granby Septic Regulations," so get the current, finalized text directly from the Board of Health before designing a system. Composting toilet policy specifics were not confirmed on an official Granby page, so ask the Board of Health point-blank.

Greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting don't appear to have any Granby-specific bylaws loosening or tightening the state baseline. That means Massachusetts' Title 5 treatment-as-wastewater default likely governs greywater, and rainwater catchment isn't separately addressed locally at all, as far as I found. Private wells appear to be permitted and are administered through the Board of Health's general water/septic authority, though I didn't find a standalone Granby well ordinance.

Finally, disconnecting from grid utilities isn't banned outright anywhere I found, but don't read that as a green light: any structure or system still needs Building Department permitting under the state code. Confirm everything locally before you commit.