Off-Grid Living in Clarendon, Vermont

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Clarendon, Vermont, and the honest answer is: it's doable, but you're dealing with two layers of rules stacked on top of each other, the Town of Clarendon's zoning bylaw and the State of Vermont's wastewater/water permitting program. Neither one is going away, and neither one is a rubber stamp.

Zoning. Clarendon is a zoned town, not one of those wide-open unzoned Vermont towns people dream about. The current bylaw was adopted in 2011 by the town, and as of my research a 2025 draft update was still working its way through the Planning Commission (a scheduled hearing didn't happen for lack of quorum). So before you assume anything about a parcel, ask the Zoning Administrator whether the 2011 bylaw or a newer version is what's actually in force. The town has five districts, Agricultural and Rural Residential, Residential and Commercial, Commercial and Industrial, Conservation, and a Flood Hazard Overlay, and what you're allowed to build or do depends entirely on which one your land sits in.

Dwellings. The bylaw's definition of "Residence, Single-Family" explicitly includes mobile and modular homes, which is a decent sign for manufactured housing. I could not confirm specific language on tiny homes on wheels or living in an RV full-time, so that's a call-the-Zoning-Administrator question, not a guess-and-hope one.

Building permits. Clarendon issues zoning permits through its Zoning Administrator, but I did not find evidence of a separate town-adopted building code beyond that zoning layer. Don't take that as "no inspection ever," just that I couldn't confirm it from what's published.

Septic and greywater. This is where the State of Vermont, not the town, calls the shots. Since 2007 Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation has had universal jurisdiction over wastewater and water supply permitting statewide, and that includes single-family homes, cabins, yurts, and yomes. Clarendon falls under the DEC's Rutland Regional Office. Greywater reuse falls under this same state program; I found no separate Clarendon ordinance addressing it.

Rainwater harvesting appears to be permitted with no town-specific restriction I could locate. If you're piping it indoors for drinking water, that likely triggers the state's potable water supply rules.

Wells. Private well construction and testing are governed at the state level, per Vermont Department of Health guidance stemming from a law passed in the 2011-12 legislative session. No separate Clarendon well ordinance turned up in my research.

Off-grid utility disconnection. I found no town requirement to hook into municipal water or sewer, and honestly, most of Clarendon doesn't appear to run municipal systems anyway. But going off-grid on water and waste still means getting a state DEC permit for your septic/well setup, that's the baseline no matter how remote your parcel feels.

Bottom line: start with Clarendon's Zoning Administrator to nail down your district and which bylaw version applies, then loop in the DEC Rutland office for anything involving water or wastewater.