Off-Grid Living in Long Island, Maine

Long Island, Maine is a small island town off Portland, and like every organized town in Maine, it's zoned. I want to be upfront that the local Land Use Ordinance and the state's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act do a lot of the work here, and much of what an off-gridder wants to know (tiny homes, RVs as full-time dwellings, rainwater harvesting, disconnecting from utilities) isn't spelled out clearly in what I could find. So this is a starting map, not a final answer, confirm the specifics with the town's Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) before you buy land or build.

Zoning: Long Island has an official zoning map with several districts, IR1, IR2, IB, R-OS, RPZ, and RRZD, plus a shoreland zone under Article 4 of its Land Use Ordinance. The Code Enforcement Officer and Zoning Board of Appeals administer this locally. If you're anywhere near the water (and on a small island, you often are), shoreland buffers matter a lot and are field-verified, not just measured off a map.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: I couldn't confirm town-specific rules on tiny homes or RVs as permanent residences. This would fall under the Land Use Ordinance's dwelling definitions and Maine's state building code (MUBEC), both enforced by the town CEO. Ask directly before assuming an RV or tiny house qualifies as a legal dwelling.

Building permits: Maine state law (30-A M.R.S. § 4451) defines what a municipal Code Enforcement Officer does: enforce shoreland zoning, land use, plumbing, subsurface wastewater, and building standards. Long Island has its own CEO who issues local permits.

Septic and composting toilets: Maine's Subsurface Wastewater Disposal Rules (10-144 CMR Ch. 241) allow alternative toilets statewide, and the town's Local Plumbing Inspector/CEO issues the actual permit. This is a two-layer system: state rule, local sign-off.

Greywater: Same state rule applies, permit through the local plumbing inspector. I didn't find anything from Long Island itself adding stricter greywater rules, but shoreland-zone properties could face extra scrutiny, that's not confirmed either way.

Rainwater harvesting: No town or state page addressed this directly for Long Island. Nothing suggests it's restricted, but I can't confirm a formal allowance either.

Wells: No Long Island-specific well ordinance turned up, so the baseline is Maine's Water Well Commission construction standards. Whether the town's shoreland setbacks add well-siting restrictions is not confirmed, worth a direct question to the CEO.

Utility disconnection: No ordinance explicitly bans or blesses living off-grid without hookups. In practice, compliance runs through the same three tracks: the Land Use Ordinance, the building code, and the wastewater rules, all enforced by the same CEO.

Bottom line: this is a zoned island town where the details that matter most to off-gridders live in ordinance text and CEO judgment calls I couldn't fully pin down remotely. Call before you plan.