Off-Grid Living in Hollis, Maine

I'll say upfront: Hollis is a fully zoned Maine town, not an unorganized township, so you're dealing with local rules layered on top of state law here, not the state Land Use Planning Commission. That matters because a lot of "off-grid friendly" reputation in Maine comes from the unorganized territories, and Hollis isn't one of them.

Zoning. Hollis has its own Zoning Ordinance (last amended in 2025) plus a separate Shoreland Zoning Ordinance for anything near water. Land use is administered by the town's Code Enforcement Officer (CEO), and the Planning Board handles subdivision and site plan matters. If you're buying raw land here, you're working within a district-based land use table, not a permitting-free zone.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I could not confirm a specific Hollis provision covering tiny homes or RVs as permanent dwellings. The town does have a separate Accessory Dwelling ordinance referenced on its ordinances page that I haven't reviewed in detail. Don't assume either way, call the CEO's office before you buy or build.

Building permits. Confirmed: Hollis enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC), effective as of 2025, and requires local building permits for most new construction, alteration, or replacement of structures. This has a long enforcement history in town, including a court case from the early 1990s.

Septic and composting toilets. Maine's Subsurface Wastewater Disposal Rules set the statewide baseline, administered locally through Hollis's Local Plumbing Inspector (LPI). I didn't find a Hollis-specific composting toilet variance, so the state baseline (generally permitted with proper documentation) is what to expect, but confirm with the plumbing permit desk.

Greywater. Same framework, state rules through the local plumbing inspector. No town-specific twist found.

Rainwater harvesting. No Hollis ordinance addressing this either way. Maine has no dedicated statewide permit for it that I found, so it likely falls outside special permitting, but this is genuinely unconfirmed for Hollis specifically.

Wells. Governed by the state's Water Well Commission through Maine CDC; no added town-level well ordinance found for Hollis.

Disconnecting from utilities entirely. No explicit ban found, but living off-grid still runs through the same building permit and plumbing/septic permit gates as everything else here. There's no dedicated "off-grid exemption," and there's also no dedicated prohibition in what I reviewed. This is the one to ask the CEO's office about directly if it's central to your plan.

Bottom line: Hollis isn't hostile to off-grid living, but it's not a legal gray zone either. Building permits and MUBEC compliance are real requirements, and septic/plumbing runs through the state rules with local administration. The unconfirmed pieces (tiny homes/RVs, rainwater, full utility disconnection) are exactly the questions to bring to the Code Enforcement Office before you commit to land or a build plan.