Off-Grid Living in Medfield, Massachusetts

I'll be upfront: Medfield isn't a place where you can just buy a back lot and disappear off-grid. It's a fully zoned Massachusetts town, and every dimension of "going off-grid" here runs through some combination of state code and local (Town of Medfield) enforcement. Let me walk through what I found.

Zoning and raw land. Medfield has had a codified Zoning Bylaw (Chapter 300) since 1938, amended over the decades, with districts like RE, RT, RS, and RU mapped out and administered by the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. There's no unzoned land in town. Rural and agricultural uses get some flexibility through provisions like Open Space Residential, but you're still working inside a district framework, not a blank slate.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. Every district carries its own dimensional minimums (lot size, frontage, setbacks) laid out in the Table of Area Regulations attached to the Zoning Bylaw. As an example, the Open Space Residential district calls for a 12,000 square foot minimum lot with specific frontage and yard setbacks. I did not find any Medfield-specific bylaw language carving out tiny homes or RVs as permanent residences, so I'd assume the state's baseline (Massachusetts has adopted an Appendix Q tiny house provision in its building code) applies unless the Building Department tells you otherwise.

Building permits. Medfield's Building Department, headed by the Building Commissioner, reviews and issues permits for construction, handles wiring/plumbing/gas inspections, and enforces the Zoning Bylaw. The town uses online permitting and follows the state building code (780 CMR). There's no way around this office if you're putting up a structure.

Septic and composting toilets. The Board of Health runs Title 5 septic regulation locally, with its own engineer/agent reviewing site plans, soil tests, and disposal system permits. Composting toilets are allowed under the state's Title 5 framework, but you'd administer that through the same Board of Health process.

Greywater and rainwater. I couldn't find a Medfield-specific bylaw for either. Greywater looks like it falls under the general Title 5 wastewater umbrella that the Board of Health enforces. Rainwater harvesting has no town rule I could locate; outdoor use is generally fine under the state baseline, but indoor potable use runs into plumbing code questions. I'd call this one genuinely unclear locally and worth confirming directly with the Board of Health or Building Department.

Wells. The state's Department of Environmental Protection gives local boards of health authority over private well siting and construction standards, which Medfield's Board of Health administers.

Off-grid utility disconnection. Nothing I found bans disconnecting from electric utilities outright, but any dwelling still has to pass 780 CMR building code review and the standard permitting/inspection process through the Building Department.

Bottom line: Medfield treats off-grid living as something to route through existing zoning, building, and health department channels, not something separately banned or separately blessed. If you're serious about a project here, the Building Department and Board of Health are your first calls.