Off-Grid Living in Sharon, Vermont

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Sharon, Vermont, and the honest headline is this: Sharon is a zoned town, so "off-grid" here doesn't mean "unregulated." It means layering town zoning on top of Vermont's state permitting system, mainly run through the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR/DEC).

Zoning. Sharon has an active zoning bylaw administered by the Sharon Planning Commission, which also acts as the town's Development Review Board. There's a Table of Use Regulations, district-based dimensional standards, a Floodplain Overlay District, an Accessory Dwelling Unit bylaw, a Solar Bylaw, and a Short-Term Rental bylaw, with revisions as recent as 2025 including some setback reductions in three districts. I was not able to pull the full current bylaw text with numbers, so for anything specific (lot size minimums, exact setbacks) you'll want to call the Planning Commission Administrator directly rather than take my word for it.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. This one's genuinely unclear from what I could find. The ADU bylaw (Section 8.1) covers accessory units, but I couldn't locate the actual rules on tiny homes or RV living. Don't guess here, ask the Planning Commission.

Building permits. There's no dedicated town building inspector that I found. Construction-related zoning matters seem to route through the Town Clerk's office and the Planning Commission/DRB. Vermont doesn't have a statewide residential building code baseline, so local permitting for structures runs through the town's zoning review process instead.

Septic and greywater. This is where the state steps in hard. Sharon's own Subdivision Regulations require applicants to get wastewater and potable water supply permits from the Vermont ANR (or file a required deed notice) before the town will approve subdivision plats. That almost certainly extends to composting toilets and greywater systems too, since I found no separate Sharon-specific greywater rule, just the same state DEC wastewater permit framework.

Rainwater harvesting. I found nothing in Sharon's zoning or subdivision rules restricting it. That doesn't mean zero rules exist, just that nothing turned up in official sources I reviewed.

Wells. Same pattern as septic: Vermont DEC governs well siting and construction statewide, and Sharon's subdivision regs simply point back to that state process rather than adding town-specific well standards.

Utility disconnection. Sharon has no townwide municipal sewer system, and I found no ordinance requiring hookup to utilities. Living off-grid appears to be permitted, provided you're square with the state's wastewater and water supply permitting requirements.

Bottom line: Sharon's town-level rules are real but somewhat thin in what's publicly documented, while the state (via ANR/DEC) is doing the heavy lifting on septic, water, and wells. Call before you build.