Off-Grid Living in Hanson, Massachusetts

If you're looking at land in Hanson, Massachusetts, and dreaming about going off-grid, here's what I found digging into the town's own rules, plus where the state fills in gaps.

Zoning. Hanson is not unzoned country. The town has a full Zoning Bylaw with defined districts, use tables, and dimensional requirements, administered by the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. Whatever you want to do with a piece of raw land, whether that's parking a tiny house or building a cabin, has to fit within the district it sits in. Hanson has also been working through Accessory Dwelling Unit amendments and MBTA Communities Act compliance, so the bylaw is actively changing. Don't assume last year's rule still applies; check with the Planning Board.

Tiny homes, RVs, alternative dwellings. I could not find a Hanson page that spells out minimum dwelling size or whether an RV can count as a permanent residence. What I did find is that secondary accessory dwelling units need a Special Permit and a minimum lot size, which tells me the town handles unconventional housing case by case through the Zoning Board of Appeals rather than through a blanket rule. Bring your specific plan to them before you buy anything.

Building permits. Hanson's Building Department enforces the Massachusetts State Building Code along with state electrical and plumbing codes, on top of local zoning and general bylaws. Any structure you build, wire, or plumb will need a permit and inspection. This is a state-code baseline that Hanson administers locally.

Septic and greywater. There's no public sewer for residential use in Hanson, so private septic under the state's Title 5 regulations governs almost every property. The Board of Health administers supplementary local septic rules on top of Title 5. I found no Hanson-specific greywater bylaw, so state Title 5 (which generally treats greywater as wastewater requiring treatment) is the default. Ask the Board of Health how they handle greywater systems specifically.

Rainwater harvesting. No Hanson bylaw on this turned up in my research. Massachusetts generally allows outdoor rainwater collection with more restriction on indoor potable use, and nothing suggests Hanson adds extra limits, but this isn't confirmed at the town level.

Wells. The Hanson Board of Health maintains its own Well Regulations covering siting, construction, and testing of private wells. This is a locally administered program, so plan on going through the Board of Health for any well work.

Utility disconnection. I didn't find anything barring off-grid living outright in Hanson. But solar and electrical work still needs Building Department permits and inspections under state code, and the town even lists a specific fee for solar panel wiring permits. Going off-grid here means going through the permit process for the systems you install, not avoiding it.

Bottom line: Hanson is a regulated New England town, not frontier land. Zoning, building, health, and well rules all apply, and the town is actively revising some of them.