Dixmont, ME Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

The Town of Dixmont Building Code Ordinance (March 21, 2009, officially amended March 17, 2018) states its setback standard once, in Section 8(A), and it applies to every building, mobile home and accessory structure in the permit process rather than by district. The side and rear rule is a flat twenty (20) feet from any boundary line. The road rule depends on the width of the road right of way (ROW): at least forty-five (45) feet from the centerline of the traveled part of the road on roads having a 49.5 foot ROW, and at least fifty-five (55) feet on town roads with a sixty-six (66) foot ROW. ROW widths are determined from the latest version of the MDOT inventory of Public Roads, so the officer does not measure the road by eye.

The Code Enforcement Officer cannot issue a building permit unless the proposal meets this setback along with the other Section 8 standards, which include a two (2) acre minimum lot, 200 contiguous feet of road frontage, and for back lots a legal right of way of not less than fifty (50) feet in width. Section 9(A) lets a permit issue on a non-conforming lot of record without a variance when the lot is in separate ownership and all provisions except lot size and frontage can be met. Variances relating to setback must be obtained from the Board of Appeals, which under Section 12(E) must find all four undue hardship criteria, including that the land cannot yield a reasonable return unless the variance is granted.

Section 9(C) gives family dwellings that existed or were under construction when the ordinance became effective a limited pass: if one is destroyed or damaged by casualty, it can be rebuilt in substantially the same location and size if work begins within two years. The driveway rule in Section 10(K) tracks the same road measurements. Near water, the separate Shoreland Zoning Ordinance sets 100 foot setbacks from great ponds and 75 foot setbacks from other water bodies, tributary streams and wetland edges, inside the shoreland zone only.