Off-Grid Living in Wilton, New Hampshire

Wilton, New Hampshire is a fully zoned town, not one of those unzoned rural spots people sometimes assume New Hampshire is full of. The Zoning Board of Adjustment and Planning Board administer a real ordinance with multiple districts, and if you're not in the Residential, Commercial, Industrial, or Office Park districts, you land in the catch-all General Residence and Agricultural District, which requires five acres per dwelling unit (with at least two of those acres outside wetlands, water bodies, and the 100-year floodplain). There's also a Wetlands Conservation overlay that pulls in the Zoning Board and a soil scientist for anything built near wetlands. So the acreage you have, and where it sits, genuinely shapes what you're allowed to do.

On dwellings: many residential uses in Wilton need a special exception from the Zoning Board plus site plan review from the Planning Board, not just a routine permit. Temporary facilities (think RVs or trailers used while building) get a defined window before the Building Inspector requires removal, with possible extensions "for good cause." Importantly, the ordinance explicitly requires temporary facilities to be serviced by an approved septic/sewer and water system, so you can't just park an RV off-grid indefinitely and call it done.

Building permits fall under the NH State Building Code (RSA 155-A), enforced locally by Wilton's Building Inspector, who's appointed by the Select Board. Any building permit application has to include septic approval where the structure will be plumbed. New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services is clear statewide that composting toilets and outhouses can't replace a septic system once you've got plumbed fixtures, and DES doesn't issue permits for those toilets themselves, it just has rules governing them.

Greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting don't have Wilton-specific ordinances that I could find. Rainwater catchment for non-potable use would fall under the state building/plumbing code Wilton already enforces, so it's likely fine within that framework, but I'd confirm details with the Building Inspector. Greywater is genuinely a gap in the research, so treat it as unclear until the town or DES weighs in.

Wells fall under the state Water Well Board, but Wilton also runs its own Water Commission and sewer/water connection policies, which matter if you're near town infrastructure. Living fully off-grid and disconnected from utilities gets complicated here: any plumbed structure seems to trigger the septic and water requirements described above. An unplumbed dry cabin might sidestep the septic trigger under state rules, but Wilton doesn't spell out an intentional off-grid carve-out, so don't assume it's endorsed, just possibly untested.

Bottom line: Wilton is workable for off-grid-style living on larger parcels, but it's not a place to skip permits and hope nobody notices. Call ahead.