Off-Grid Living in Shelburne, New Hampshire

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Shelburne, a small town up in Coös County, New Hampshire, and I want to be upfront: this is one of those towns where the official paper trail is thinner than I'd like. Here's what I found, and where you'll need to pick up the phone.

Zoning. Shelburne is not one of the unzoned New Hampshire towns you sometimes hear about (there are roughly 19 of those, mostly in Grafton and Coös counties). The town's own permits page references a Zoning Regulations document, a Code Enforcement Officer, a Planning Board, and a Zoning Board of Adjustment that hears appeals and special exceptions. That tells me zoning is active here under the state's enabling law (RSA 674), but I could not locate the actual ordinance text online, so I can't tell you district boundaries, minimum lot sizes, or whether raw/vacant land occupancy is addressed. Call the Code Enforcement Officer for that.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I found nothing official from the town addressing tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, or living in an RV or camper. Don't assume either way, ask the Code Enforcement Officer directly before you set anything up.

Building permits. This one's solid: Shelburne requires a building permit for building projects, including putting up a pre-built structure, administered through the Code Enforcement Officer. The town also enforces the state Energy Code (revised in 2010), which pulled more types of projects into the permit requirement than before. The town's page also mentions a penalty fee for doing work "after the fact" without a permit first, so don't skip this step.

Septic, greywater, rainwater, wells. For all four of these, I found no Shelburne-specific ordinance online. That means the practical baseline is state law: septic systems fall under New Hampshire DES's Subsurface Systems Bureau rules, and private wells fall under the state Water Well Board. Whether Shelburne layers any additional local health or water requirements on top, I genuinely don't know, and neither greywater reuse nor rainwater harvesting turned up any town or state-specific restriction in my research. Confirm current details with NH DES and the Town Office before you build anything.

Utility disconnection. I didn't find any Shelburne ordinance requiring hookup to water or sewer utilities, but the town's own description of services is general enough that I can't rule out an unwritten requirement or something addressed only in that zoning ordinance I couldn't get my hands on.

Bottom line for now: Shelburne is zoned, requires building permits, and enforces the state Energy Code, that much is confirmed. Everything else, septic, greywater, rainwater, wells, dwelling types, needs a direct call to the Town Office or Code Enforcement Officer before you commit to a plan. Don't take my "not confirmed" as "not regulated," it just means I couldn't verify it from official sources this round.