Off-Grid Living in Stratton, Vermont

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like town by town, and Stratton, Vermont is a good reminder that "rural" doesn't mean "unregulated." Stratton is zoned, not one of Vermont's handful of unzoned towns. The Town adopted a Zoning Bylaw on February 8, 2016, along with a zoning map and districts, and a Town Plan adopted December 14, 2020. That means before you do much of anything with a parcel here, you're working within a real local framework, layered under Vermont's statewide wastewater and water supply program.

Zoning and land use are handled locally, through the Zoning Ordinance administered by the Town's Planning and Permitting office. What you can do with raw land, setbacks, and permitted uses all depend on which zoning district your parcel falls in, and Stratton also has a Greenbelt overlay district that adds another layer in some areas. I'd treat this as parcel-specific and confirm district and overlay status with the Zoning Administrator before assuming anything.

Dwellings and living space: the Zoning Ordinance requires a permit if you're converting non-living space, like a garage or porch, into living space over a certain size. I did not find anything in the town's published material addressing tiny homes or RVs specifically, so that's genuinely unconfirmed. Don't guess on this one, call the Zoning Administrator directly.

Building permits: Stratton requires its own Zoning (Building) Permit for construction and additions, and the town is required by state law to point applicants toward Vermont's Residential and Business Energy Codes. Vermont doesn't have a statewide structural building code for single-family homes, but that doesn't mean Stratton has no local permit process, it does.

Septic, greywater, and wells all fall under Vermont's Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Program, administered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which took universal jurisdiction over new wastewater and water supply systems back in July 2007. Any new construction with a wastewater system, or an addition of bedrooms, likely triggers this state permit. I found no Stratton-specific greywater bylaw, so that reuse question defaults to the same state program. Rainwater harvesting is similarly unaddressed at the town level in what I could find; state guidance broadly allows non-potable use, but confirm locally.

One quirk worth flagging: Stratton has a resort area served by the Winhall-Stratton Fire District, which runs its own water and sewer systems for that zone. If your land is in that area, that's who you'd deal with instead of, or in addition to, the state process.

Bottom line on utility disconnection: I didn't find any Stratton bylaw forcing a hookup to municipal electric, water, or sewer. Off-grid living itself looks permitted, but any wastewater or water system you build still needs the applicable state permit.