Off-Grid Living in Scituate, Massachusetts

I'll be upfront: Scituate, Massachusetts is not a place where you can just buy a wooded lot and quietly go off-grid. It's a fully zoned town on the South Shore, with the Planning Board administering a comprehensive Zoning Bylaw (most recently updated at the April 2025 Annual Town Meeting, pending final sign-off from the Massachusetts Attorney General's office). If you're picturing a rural, unregulated homestead here, that's not the reality, and I want to be honest about that up front.

Zoning. Scituate has multiple residential zoning districts set by minimum lot size (I've seen 40,000, 20,000, and 10,000 square foot minimums referenced), plus overlay districts for village areas like Humarock. Any raw land use has to fit within these district rules, administered by the Planning Board.

Dwellings. The bylaw specifically defines and regulates small dwelling types, including a "cottage" category with a defined maximum size, height, and placement rules. I found no indication that RVs are permitted as permanent residences here. If a tiny house or cottage is your plan, you'll want the Planning Board to walk you through which zoning district and dwelling category applies.

Building permits. The town's Inspections Department requires permits for essentially all construction, from sheds and decks to full new builds, and all applications now go through an online portal. This is enforced locally, but it flows from the Massachusetts state building code (780 CMR).

Septic and greywater. Massachusetts' Title 5 (310 CMR 15) is the state's septic and wastewater code, and it's enforced locally by the Scituate Board of Health, which also runs a Community Septic Management Program to help homeowners with failed systems. I did not find a Scituate-specific greywater bylaw, so the state Title 5 baseline, which treats greywater as wastewater requiring an approved system, appears to apply. Composting toilets fall under Title 5 provisions generally, but I couldn't confirm any town-specific composting toilet allowance, so ask the Board of Health directly.

Rainwater harvesting. I couldn't locate a Scituate bylaw or Board of Health guidance on rainwater collection. Outdoor, non-potable use is generally fine under the state baseline; anything indoor or potable runs into state plumbing rules, so this one is genuinely unclear at the local level.

Wells. The Board of Health has jurisdiction over private well siting and construction, consistent with how most Massachusetts towns operate, but I didn't find Scituate-specific well regulation text, so confirm details directly with them.

Off-grid utility disconnection. I found no explicit Scituate bylaw banning disconnected living, but the standard state building and electrical codes still apply and are enforced by the town's Building/Inspections Department and Electrical Inspector.

Bottom line: almost everything here runs through either the Planning Board (zoning), the Inspections Department (building/electrical), or the Board of Health (septic, wells, greywater). None of these offices is optional to skip if you're serious about a legal off-grid setup in Scituate.