Off-Grid Living in Ryegate, Vermont

I've been digging through Ryegate's zoning bylaw and the state statutes it's built on, and here's my honest read of what off-grid living looks like in this small Vermont town.

First, the big one: Ryegate is zoned. Some tiny Vermont towns skip zoning entirely, but Ryegate adopted a bylaw (most recently updated January 9, 2017, including flood hazard regulations) under the state's Vermont Planning and Development Act, 24 V.S.A. §4401. That means your land use, building placement, and district rules run through the Town of Ryegate's zoning administrator, not just the state.

Building a dwelling: The town issues its own Building/Zoning Permit, separate from any state code baseline. Worth flagging: the bylaw has specific language for manufactured and modular homes (citing 24 V.S.A. §4412), covering things like flood hazard location, wastewater capacity, and floor-area ratios. I did not find explicit language on tiny homes or RVs as permanent dwellings in what I reviewed, so that's a "call the Zoning Administrator" question, not a guess I'm willing to make.

Septic and greywater: The bylaw explicitly conditions occupancy on having "sufficient wastewater capacity," and it points applicants toward the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for permitting, DEC administers the state's Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Rules. I didn't find a Ryegate-specific greywater ordinance, so that falls back to the state DEC baseline, treat greywater systems as regulated wastewater systems needing a permit unless a DEC official tells you otherwise.

Rainwater harvesting: No town rule found either way. Vermont's general posture (and EPA guidance) is permissive for non-potable uses like irrigation, but I'd confirm with the town if you're planning something tied into a permitted structure.

Wells: No Ryegate-specific well ordinance turned up. Well siting and construction default to the state DEC baseline. The zoning bylaw's "sufficient wastewater capacity" language is really about septic, not well water, but it does show the town cares about site adequacy overall.

Going off-grid / disconnecting from utilities: Nothing in the bylaw bans it. The bylaw does flag certain energy equipment, like outdoor wood boilers, for additional review, and the town plan talks about residents purchasing heating/lighting energy, but that's descriptive, not a mandate to connect to a grid. Since Ryegate is rural without widespread municipal water or sewer, living disconnected appears genuinely workable here, permitted by default rather than by a specific ordinance welcoming it.

Bottom line honesty check: Ryegate's bylaw is more detailed than a lot of small-town Vermont ordinances, especially around manufactured housing and wastewater, but there are real gaps in the public text around tiny homes, RVs, greywater, and wells. Those gaps mean "not confirmed," not "not regulated." Call the Zoning Administrator (routed through the Town Clerk) before you commit to a plan, and loop in DEC early for anything septic or well-related since they're a hard state requirement regardless of what the town says.