Off-Grid Living in Mount Vernon, Maine

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like, town by town, and Mount Vernon, Maine is a good example of a place that's zoned but not exactly loaded with off-grid-specific rules I could find in writing.

Zoning. Mount Vernon is not unzoned. The town adopted a Land Use Ordinance (LUO), most recently amended in 2023, that covers every parcel and structure in town, and there's an official zoning map dividing the town into districts. That ordinance grows out of Maine's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act and general municipal home rule authority, so if you're anywhere near water, expect shoreland-specific restrictions layered on top of the base district rules. I did not find district-by-district dimensional or use tables in the excerpts I reviewed, so before you buy or build, pull the LUO PDF and the zoning map for the specific parcel and confirm with the town.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I couldn't confirm how Mount Vernon treats tiny homes or RVs as permanent residences. The LUO almost certainly addresses this in its definitions and use tables, but I didn't find that language in what I reviewed. Call the code enforcement office before assuming an RV or tiny home qualifies as a dwelling.

Building permits. Mount Vernon doesn't run its own building department. It contracts that work out to a regional Code Enforcement Officer through the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG), currently Jeff Drew, who also serves as the town's Local Plumbing Inspector. He handles building, plumbing, and shoreland zoning permits, and the town's website says these can be applied for online.

Septic and greywater. Maine sets the baseline here: the state's Subsurface Wastewater Rules (administered by Maine CDC) require documentation that any structure needing a septic system can meet state standards before it's built. Locally, for typical single-family systems the Local Plumbing Inspector, again Jeff Drew in Mount Vernon, issues the permit. Greywater isn't split out separately. Maine's rules define subsurface wastewater to include greywater, so sink and laundry discharge has to run through the same permitted system rather than a standalone greywater setup.

Rainwater and wells. I found no town ordinance addressing rainwater harvesting one way or the other, and no Mount Vernon-specific well ordinance either. Wells would fall back on Maine's general Water Well Commission standards, but I didn't find a town supplement to those. Both of these count as unclear at the local level based on what's public.

Utility disconnection. No explicit town rule on living off-grid electrically was found. Any leverage the town has would come indirectly, through the building and plumbing permitting Jeff Drew enforces under the LUO, rather than a direct "you must connect to the grid" ordinance.

Bottom line: Mount Vernon is zoned and permit-driven, but a lot of the off-grid specifics (tiny homes, rainwater, wells, disconnection) just aren't spelled out in what's publicly posted. That's a "call and confirm" situation, not a "clear yes or no."