Off-Grid Living in Stratford, New Hampshire

I'll be upfront: Stratford, New Hampshire was a tough one to research. The town's historic domain, stratfordnh.org, has expired, and the current official site, stratfordnh.gov, doesn't have much zoning or ordinance text posted that I could pull up in this research pass. A lot of search results also kept surfacing pages for Stratford, CT or the unrelated Town of Strafford, NH, which I threw out entirely since they're not relevant. So take this as a starting map, not a finished one, and confirm the specifics with the town before you act on them.

Zoning. I can't confirm whether Stratford has a formal zoning ordinance you can read online, but the town's Assessing office does reference "zone" and minimum lot sizes when discussing the state's Current Use program. That tells me there's likely some zoning structure with district-based lot size minimums, even though I couldn't locate the ordinance document itself on the official site. Call the Town Office to get the actual bylaw.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. Not confirmed either way. No ordinance text on ADUs, tiny homes, or RV occupancy turned up on the current town site, so this is one to ask about directly rather than assume.

Building permits. Stratford appears to run its own building permitting, based on a "Building Permit Ordinance" listed on the old town site. That suggests the town isn't just falling back on the state's default permitting process, it has its own local process layered on top of New Hampshire's building code. Confirm current requirements with the Town Office since I'm relying on a legacy listing here.

Septic and composting toilets. This is state turf. New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services, through its Subsurface Systems Bureau, regulates septic systems statewide, Stratford included. I found no town-specific rule adding to or loosening that, and no local word on composting toilets either.

Greywater. Unclear. No Stratford-specific ordinance surfaced, so this likely sits in the same gray zone New Hampshire has statewide, where explicit residential greywater rules are thin. Ask DES or the town directly if you're planning a greywater system.

Rainwater harvesting. No town restriction found, and New Hampshire's state code doesn't appear to bar it, so I've marked this as permitted at the baseline. Worth double-checking with the town if you're doing something larger scale.

Wells. Governed statewide by the NH Water Well Board, no Stratford-specific rule found on top of that.

Utilities. I found no Stratford health or subdivision rule requiring you to hook into utilities, but that absence of evidence isn't the same as a green light, it just means I couldn't confirm it either way.

Bottom line: Stratford is a small town with a thin online paper trail right now. Almost everything here needs a phone call to the Town Office to nail down before you buy land or start building.