Off-Grid Living in Peacham, Vermont

If you're weighing a move off-grid in Peacham, Vermont, here's what I've found digging through official sources, town and state alike.

First, the big-picture fact: Peacham is a zoned town. It's not one of those unzoned corners of the Northeast Kingdom where you can do more or less as you please with raw land. The town has an adopted Zoning and Flood Hazard Bylaw, and the Select Board actually amended it as recently as January 2025 to bring it into line with state requirements and Vermont's HOME Act. The Zoning Administrator's office (currently Bob Hansen, per the town website) is your first stop for anything involving land use, and they issue Zoning Permits.

On dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs specifically, I couldn't nail down Peacham's exact rules in this research pass. The bylaw text I found online may predate the 2025 amendments, so I'd treat any minimum-size or RV-occupancy assumption as unconfirmed. Ask the Zoning Administrator directly for the current bylaw language before you buy land or park a trailer.

On building permits: Vermont does not have a statewide residential building code, so whatever permitting requirement exists in Peacham comes from the local zoning bylaw, not a state code. That means the Zoning Administrator, again, is the authority who'll tell you what's required for new construction.

Septic and composting toilets are a different story: this is state-level regulation. Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation, through its Regional Office Program (housed under the Wastewater Systems and Potable Water Supply Program), issues Water/Wastewater Permits for soil-based systems under 6,500 gallons per day, plus potable water supply permits. Composting toilets generally still fall under this same notification/permit structure. Greywater systems are handled by the same state program, sometimes through "Innovative/Alternative" system provisions meant to work around tricky sites.

Private wells fall under this same state umbrella, since the Regional Office Program also permits non-public potable water supplies. I didn't find any Peacham-specific well ordinance layered on top.

Rainwater harvesting for non-potable use looks fine. I found no Peacham restriction on it, so the state's general (permissive) posture applies.

Living fully off municipal utilities is permitted. Peacham is a small rural town without municipal water or sewer across most of its land, so disconnection itself isn't the issue. Whatever on-site systems you build (well, septic, greywater) will still need the state permits described above.

Bottom line: the town controls zoning and building permits, the state controls water and wastewater. Confirm both before you commit to a piece of land.