Jurisdiction and research scope
Town of Colchester, Chittenden County, Vermont, not Colchester, Connecticut. This is a limited screen of outdoor residential accessory equipment under Development Regulations Section 2.09-B(2). Public land, indoor storage, approved parks/campgrounds, commercial uses, farm/construction exemptions, variances and nonconforming rights are outside the positive route.
Administrative conditions screen only, not a zoning permit or complete legal approval. Site permits, overlays, drainage, other parking requirements, utility work and private restrictions must be checked separately. An unknown answer cannot establish eligibility.
Research by Can I Park My RV?Official municipal sources; access limits shown belowEditorial standard
Colchester RV parking at a glance
| Location or use | What to check |
|---|---|
| Driveway | Private property only, with applicable side, sidewalk and corner clearances. |
| Yard | Two-unit combined limit; safe condition and applicable securing required. |
| Street | Not authorized by the accessory-storage subsection. |
| Loading | No separate loading-time exception is established here. |
| Guest | Living or housekeeping in named camper/van classes is restricted outside approved parks/campgrounds. |
| Hookups | No utility authorization. |
Which vehicles count and who may store them
The rule covers the owner’s outdoor equipment on a residential lot, including travel and tent trailers, pickup campers/coaches, motorized dwellings, boat-and-trailer combinations, snow vehicles, cycle, utility and horse trailers, and similar recreational vehicles. No more than two covered units in combination may be stored at once. The entire lot may have no more than one unregistered vehicle; nonmotorized boats not required to be registered are exempt from that registration count. Farm equipment normally on farmland and equipment at an active construction site are expressly excluded from this subsection, not automatically authorized by it.
Sidewalk, side-yard and corner clearance
Keep all equipment on private land, at least 18 inches from an existing or proposed public sidewalk, without projecting into the public right-of-way. The normal side-yard setback is five feet. A neighbor’s written concurrence is an express exception, but its application is referred to the town rather than automatically approved here. On a corner lot, equipment higher than 36 inches cannot be in the triangle formed by the corner property-line intersection and points 30 feet back on each intersecting property line. Equipment must be safely functional; the specifically listed outdoor equipment must also be secured against rolling and high winds.
Storage does not authorize living or business use
Travel trailers, tent trailers, pickup campers/coaches, motorized dwellings and vans cannot be used for business, living or housekeeping under this accessory rule. An exception exists for an approved mobile-home park or a campground with adequate sanitary facilities, whose approval and operating conditions require separate review. This packet does not turn that exception into permission at an ordinary home. The section also does not establish a public-street parking entitlement or approve hookups, new parking surfaces, shoreland or floodplain work.
Who to contact for your setup
Ask the local planning or zoning office to confirm the parcel, adopted amendments, permits and any special approval before relying on these standards.
Use the Colchester parking checker to organize the starting conditions. The checker cannot approve a parcel, a variance or an unverified exception.
Official sources reviewed November 7, 2026
- Outdoor equipment, Section 2.09-B(2)
Reviewed 2026-11-07.
- Official current regulations
Reviewed 2026-11-07.
- Complete adopted Supplement 49
Reviewed 2026-11-07.
- Amendment history and effective dates
Reviewed 2026-11-07.
A review date records when we checked these sources. The notes above explain any use of older code editions or limits on access to the full source; an address-specific local-government determination may still be required. Read our research method.
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