Off-Grid Living in Madison County, New York

Madison County, New York is one of those places where the first thing I have to explain is what the county doesn't do. There's no countywide zoning code here. Zoning, dwelling standards, and building permits are all handled town-by-town and village-by-village (Town of Sullivan, Town of Stockbridge, Village of Hamilton, and so on), each with its own code, many hosted on eCode360. The Madison County Planning Department exists, but its role is advisory and coordinating: under New York State General Municipal Law, certain municipal zoning and subdivision actions have to be referred to the county planning agency for review before local action, mainly to flag inter-community impacts. That's not the same as the county issuing you a permit.

So if you're eyeing raw land here, your very first call needs to be the specific town or village office where the parcel sits, not the county. They'll tell you what's permitted for dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs, and what their building code enforcement officer requires. I found the Town of Sullivan's construction code as one example: applications there have to give the Code Enforcement Officer enough detail to confirm compliance with the state Uniform Code and Energy Code, including a site plan showing any existing or proposed well or septic system. The Village of Hamilton's code enforcement office does similar work under the Building Code of New York State. But these are examples, not countywide rules, and I can't tell you what your specific town requires without you checking their code directly.

Septic is the one area where Madison County itself steps in directly. The county's Environmental Health Division regulates onsite wastewater systems and composting toilets under the New York State Sanitary Code and public health law. That's a real county permitting function, so that's who to call before you install anything.

Greywater and rainwater harvesting rules: I couldn't find anything specific to Madison County. Both fall back to whatever New York State's baseline framework says, so treat state Department of Health guidance as your starting point and ask the county Environmental Health Division if a septic-adjacent question comes up.

Private wells: no additional county-level permit requirement turned up in my research beyond the standard state Department of Health rules and DEC-registered well driller requirements. The county Planning Department does point people to DEC's Environmental Resource Mapper as a planning tool, which is worth a look before you site a well.

Living off-grid, disconnected from utilities, again comes down to whatever your specific town's building and occupancy code says. There's no countywide mandate I found either requiring or forbidding grid disconnection, so this is squarely a "call your town" situation.

Bottom line: think of Madison County as two systems layered together, the county handling septic and wastewater, and your town or village handling everything else about whether and how you can live on a piece of land.