Off-Grid Living in Limerick, Maine

I'll be upfront: Limerick, Maine is a genuinely zoned town, not one of those unzoned pockets some off-gridders chase. That changes the calculus a bit, so here's what I found digging through the town's and state's official pages.

Zoning and land use run through Limerick's own Zoning Ordinance, plus a separate Shoreland Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Ordinance, all administered by the Planning Board and the Code Enforcement Officer (CEO), with appeals going to the Zoning Board of Appeals. I couldn't pull a full district map or permitted-use table from a public source, so if you're eyeing a specific parcel, call the CEO's office to find out what district it's in and what's allowed.

Tiny homes and RVs as permanent dwellings aren't addressed anywhere I could find in a Limerick-specific document. That doesn't mean it's a free-for-all, it means it falls under the general Zoning Ordinance and building code enforcement, and you should ask the CEO directly before you park something and call it home.

Building codes are the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC), which Limerick adopted back in 2012 (retroactive to 2011) even though towns under 4,000 people weren't required to. So yes, MUBEC applies here, and permits go through the Code Enforcement Office and Town Clerk.

Septic and composting toilets are governed at the state level by Maine's Subsurface Wastewater Disposal Rules, administered locally by Limerick's Local Plumbing Inspector (often the same person as the CEO). Portable toilets are fine short-term, but longer use needs written sign-off from that inspector. This is one area where the state sets the technical rules and the town just enforces them.

Greywater falls under that same state wastewater rule set, permitted locally by the LPI. No Limerick-specific greywater restriction beyond the state framework showed up in my research.

Rainwater harvesting has no dedicated town ordinance that I could find. If you're plumbing rainwater into a house's water system, general Maine plumbing rules would likely apply through the LPI/CEO, but for simple catchment and outdoor use, nothing local jumped out.

Wells follow the state Water Well Commission's construction rules; I didn't find a separate Limerick well ordinance. Worth checking with the CEO on any overlap with shoreland setbacks if you're near water.

Living off-grid, utility-disconnected, isn't explicitly banned in anything I found, but it's not explicitly blessed either. It flows through the same three enforcement channels: MUBEC building code, septic permitting, and zoning. In practice, that means the CEO's office is your first and last stop for almost everything here.

Bottom line: Limerick isn't hostile to off-grid living, but it's also not a rules-light zone. Confirm everything with the Code Enforcement Office before you commit.