Off-Grid Living in West Fairlee, Vermont

I'll be upfront: West Fairlee, Vermont is a small town, and its official website doesn't publish much in the way of land-use regulation. Based on what I could find, it's a good candidate for off-grid living, but there's real uncertainty here that I want to flag rather than paper over.

Zoning. Digging through westfairleevt.gov, I found ordinances covering municipal land management, Class 4 road maintenance, facility use, and purchasing, but no zoning bylaw. The town does have a Planning Commission (its duties come from state law, Title 24 Section 4325) and an adopted 2023-2031 Town Plan approved by the Selectboard, but a town plan is a policy document, not a regulatory bylaw. Compare that to neighboring Fairlee, which has a full Unified Development Bylaw and a Zoning Administrator. I'm treating West Fairlee as likely unzoned, but I have not seen a direct town statement confirming there's no bylaw at all, so call the Town Clerk to be sure before you assume anything.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs, and building permits. I found nothing on the town's site addressing minimum house sizes, RVs as dwellings, or a building permit process. That doesn't mean nothing applies, it just means the town hasn't published it. State building code requirements can still apply depending on the structure, so this is one to ask the Town Clerk's office about directly.

Septic and greywater. This is where the state, not the town, runs the show. Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources / DEC administers the Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Rules, which cover septic systems and greywater disposal statewide. West Fairlee doesn't appear to layer any additional local rule on top of that, but you'll still need to go through DEC's permitting process for any septic or greywater system.

Rainwater harvesting. I found no West Fairlee ordinance restricting it, and no state-level barrier either, so this looks straightforwardly fine.

Wells. Private well siting and construction fall under Vermont DEC's drinking water rules. I didn't find a town-specific well ordinance, so the state standard is what governs here.

Utility disconnection. No ordinance on the town's site requires hookup to municipal power or water, and West Fairlee doesn't appear to run its own municipal water or sewer system anyway. Whatever water and waste system you build instead still needs to meet the state DEC rules mentioned above.

Bottom line: West Fairlee looks light on local red tape, but "light on published rules" isn't the same as "confirmed unregulated." Given how thin the town's own website is on zoning and building, your first call should be the Town Clerk's office to ask point blank whether a zoning bylaw or building permit requirement exists today.