Tiny lifestyle meets super-sized challenges in Vermont

Chrissy Bellmyer is one of many Vermont tiny home owners forced to live 'under the radar.'

Bellmyer built her Chittenden County home in the summer of 2015 and moved in the following January. Her home is near Essex, she said, but declined to say where exactly because she's worried about zoning and building code complaints.

Tiny houses, which are often considered to be 400 square feet or less, are rapidly growing in popularity around the country as an alternative to traditional housing. The average American home is 2,600 square feet, according to the Census Bureau.

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When tiny houses are placed on the ground they are expected to follow the normal city requirements for a house, said David White, the Burlington director of planning and zoning. This includes being connected attached to municipal services, as well as having an attached driveway and parking area.

Bellmyer, 27, made the switch after learning about the movement through blogs and social media. She now has her own blog, littleloutinyhouse.com, where she documents her tiny lifestyle and provides tips for those interested in doing the same.

“I was just kind of drawn to that idea of simple living,” she said.

Cost was another selling-point. The median sale price for a Chittenden County home is $250,000.

“The housing market is really expensive in Vermont,” Bellmyer said.

“I couldn’t afford a traditional home, so building a tiny house was a good alternative option.”

Tiny house is home sweet home for the road

Bellmyer built the home in Crown Point, N.Y., with the help of friends, family and a contractor. The 240-square-foot house is built on an 8-foot-by-24-foot trailer from Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. and took six months to complete.

The home was constructed almost entirely with repurposed materials, many from the ReSource Store in Burlington. She found kitchen cabinets from friends and repurposed wood for siding.

Living small

“It’s just kind of a more simple lifestyle,” Bellmyer said of living small. “You have a lot more freedom, but at the same time, a lot more restrictions because your living space is so small.”

The environmental benefits of a tiny house are often a draw for prospective owners. Many homes are self sufficient and run with composting toilets and solar panels. Bellmyer’s home is located 200 feet from what she describes as her “host” home, which she connects to for running water and electricity. Her bathroom includes a composting toilet. Despite the lack of self-sustainability, she still strives to produce a minimal environmental footprint.

“I try to be part of the zero-waste movement, producing no waste from my home,” Bellmyer said.

Ethan Walden, like Bellmyer, joined the movement for the financial freedom the tiny house lifestyle presents. Walden, 31, began building his Morrisville home with the help of a carpenter in the summer of 2012. The 220-square-foot house was complete by the fall of 2013.

He built his home on a 22-foot trailer with Vermont-sourced lumber. Walden’s home is connected to a telephone cable for Internet and phone, has running water from a nearby spring, and is connected to an outbuilding for electricity.

Walden’s inspiration came from couchsurfing at tiny houses during a West Coast bicycle tour in 2011. He then became an avid reader of tiny house blogs. Walden now has his own blog, thetinyhouse.net, which receives 70,000 unique visitors per month. He has even published a book to help others build their own tiny houses.

“I think owning less stuff has huge benefits and reorients your direction in life,” Walden said. “You start to think, ‘What will I do?’ rather than, ‘What will I buy?’”

Legal challenges

While the lifestyle may be appealing, many challenges with zoning and building codes remain.

“A lot of people in Vermont are going with the ‘under the radar’ approach for tiny houses,” Walden said. “You are basically at the mercy of your neighbors.”

Having a tiny house on a trailer does not allow an owner to avoid housing regulations. A tiny house trailer is often considered an RV, which can only be placed at locations designated for camping, according to White.

Walden hopes zoning and building codes can change to allow for tiny homes.

“I’d like to speak up, but I don’t want to jeopardize my own tiny house,” he said.

Bellmyer originally hoped to have her tiny house within the city of Burlington, but was prevented by zoning restrictions. Her home failed to qualify as an accessory dwelling, a smaller part of another property. The tiny house cannot be occupied by more than two people and is only allowed in conjunction with a single family home.

Tiny houses are rare in Burlington according to White.

“A lot of it has to do with the economics,” he said. “If you want to have a whole cluster of them, given the city’s lot size requirements, it makes the project difficult to justify.”

"With the high cost of land in Burlington, anybody who is going to build something is going to build something larger,” White said.

Nonetheless, he expressed interest for working with prospective tiny house owners and rethinking Burlington’s building codes.

“”We are certainly interested in seeing where the barriers are so we can help make tiny houses more accessible,” White said.

Walden is also optimistic about change.

“Zoning and building codes are already changing,” he said. “It’s just a slow process.”

Follow Alexandre Silberman on Twitter: @alexsilbermanvt