Off-Grid Living in Whitingham, Vermont

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Whitingham, Vermont, a small town in Windham County that includes the Village of Jacksonville. Here's what I found, and where the gaps still are.

First, the big-picture fact: Whitingham is zoned. The Selectboard adopted the Town of Whitingham Zoning Regulations, effective November 2021, and this bylaw governs land use, permits, and dwelling standards town-wide. That means raw land isn't a free-for-all here. If you're extending a dwelling's footprint, putting up a new structure over 120 square feet, subdividing, changing use, demolishing something, or building a sign or fence over four and a half feet, you need a zoning permit from the town.

On dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs, I couldn't find Whitingham-specific language spelling out size minimums or RV occupancy rules. The state's regional wastewater permit materials reference mobile homes, cabins, yurts, and similar alternative structures as things that trigger wastewater and water permitting, which suggests these dwelling types are recognized in practice, but the town bylaw's exact treatment isn't confirmed. I'd call the Zoning Administrator before assuming a tiny house or RV is treated like a conventional home.

Building permits run through the town's Zoning Administrator, who also enforces zoning generally. On top of that, Vermont's statewide energy code, the Residential Building Energy Standards, applies to new construction, renovations, and repairs everywhere in the state, Whitingham included. There's no separate town structural code layered on top as far as I found.

Septic and greywater are where the state, not the town, calls the shots. Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation took universal jurisdiction over wastewater and potable water permitting back in 2007, and that includes composting toilets and greywater systems classified as non-conventional wastewater. Whitingham doesn't have its own septic office, so this runs through DEC's regional office. Nothing I found suggests Whitingham adds extra restrictions on greywater, but that's not fully confirmed either.

Rainwater harvesting looks fine under the state baseline for non-potable use, and I didn't find any town rule narrowing that. Private wells fall under the same DEC wastewater/water supply permitting program mentioned above, again with no separate Whitingham well ordinance turning up in my search.

As for living disconnected from utilities: Whitingham operates municipal sewage treatment plants under the Selectboard, but I found nothing requiring you to hook up. Off-grid living itself isn't prohibited, you'll just still need a town zoning permit for structures and a state wastewater/water permit where applicable.

Bottom line: this is a town-plus-state layered system, and the town's zoning office is your first call for anything involving a structure.