Local rules and regulations for Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Population: 530,819.
Verified from official government sources
Select a topic to see Plymouth County's rules on that subject.
Short-term rental operators register with the Massachusetts DOR statewide, and under MGL c.64G §14 each Plymouth County town can require its own licensing. Plymouth, Marshfield, and…
Every short-term rental operator in Plymouth County must carry liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 under MGL c.175 §4F, unless the hosting platform provides equal coverage. The…
No Massachusetts statute sets short-term rental parking. Rules come from each town's STR bylaw and zoning. Plymouth and Scituate require off-street guest parking as a registration…
No Massachusetts statute caps short-term rental occupancy. Limits come from each town's STR bylaw and the property's septic system. Plymouth, Marshfield, and Scituate tie guest counts…
Short-term rental guests follow the same town noise bylaw as residents, authorized by MGL c.40 §21(22). Towns running STR programs, like Plymouth and Scituate, attach noise conditions…
Short-term rentals owe the 5.7% Massachusetts state excise plus a local excise of up to 6% adopted under MGL c.64G §3A. Plymouth, Marshfield, and Wareham levy the full local rate…
Amplified music is governed by town noise bylaws under MGL c.40 §21(22) and disturbing-the-peace law, MGL c.272 §53. Brockton, Plymouth, and Wareham require permits for outdoor…
No single Plymouth County quiet-hours rule exists. Each town sets its own noise bylaw under MGL c.40 §21(22), the statute authorizing bylaws for controlling and abating noise from any…
A dog is a 'nuisance dog' under MGL c.140 §136A when excessive barking disrupts a reasonable person's quiet enjoyment. Any Plymouth County resident can petition the town selectboard or…
Construction hours are fixed by each town's bylaw under MGL c.40 §21(22), the statute authorizing noise bylaws. Plymouth, Marshfield, and Scituate limit powered work to daytime…
Leaf-blower limits come from town bylaws under MGL c.40 §21(22), not the county. South Shore towns including Duxbury, Hingham, and Scituate restrict gas blowers by season and hour…
Open burning across Plymouth County is legal only January 15–May 1, and only with a permit from the local fire department under MGL c.48 §13. Each permit covers a maximum of two days.
Massachusetts designates no regulatory wildfire hazard zones. Plymouth County's elevated-risk areas — Myles Standish State Forest and the Wareham pine barrens — are managed by the…
All consumer fireworks are illegal everywhere in Plymouth County under MGL c.148 §39 — including sparklers. Possession, use, and sale are banned statewide. Only licensed professional…
Burning brush to clear vegetation across Plymouth County requires a fire department permit under MGL c.48 §13, allowed only during the January 15–May 1 open-burn season, with a 75-foot…
Recreational fire pits are legal across Plymouth County communities, but any open-air fire needs a permit from the local fire department under MGL c.48 §13. Cooking fires on sand or…
Driveway parking across Plymouth County is governed by local bylaws. Vehicles may not block public sidewalks, must sit on approved surfaces, and inoperable or unregistered vehicles…
RV, boat, and trailer storage on residential lots across Plymouth County is set by each town's zoning bylaw. Front-yard storage is generally restricted; coastal towns like Marshfield…
Overnight on-street parking across Plymouth County is controlled by local bylaw. Most towns impose winter overnight bans from November through April for snow removal; some restrict…
EV charging rules across Plymouth County are set locally and are largely enabling. New commercial and multifamily construction must include EV-ready parking under the state energy…
Plymouth County towns restrict commercial-vehicle parking in residential zones by bylaw, but MGL c.40 §22 protects registered commercial passenger vehicles and station wagons under…
Street parking across Plymouth County is regulated by each town under MGL c.40 §22, which authorizes local parking rules and penalties. Winter overnight parking bans for snow removal…
A vehicle apparently abandoned and left more than 72 hours on any way or property in Plymouth County may be taken and disposed of under MGL c.90 §22C. Towns and state police both hold…
No Plymouth County permit exists for a fence; counties issue no building permits. Under the state building code, 780 CMR, fences up to seven feet are exempt from a building permit…
Plymouth County has no fence-height ordinance; Massachusetts counties cannot zone. Height limits sit in each town's zoning bylaw, and MGL c.49 §21 makes any fence over six feet built…
No Plymouth County or Massachusetts statute restricts residential fence materials. Wood, vinyl, chain-link, and iron are all allowed. Material limits come only from each town's zoning…
No county permits retaining walls. Under the state building code, 780 CMR, a retaining wall up to four feet high, measured from the footing, needs no building permit unless it supports…
Massachusetts imposes no general duty to split a boundary fence's cost; each owner fences their own land. The one statewide neighbor rule is MGL c.49 §21: a malicious fence over six…
Every residential pool in Plymouth County must be enclosed by a barrier. The state building code, 780 CMR, requires a barrier at least 48 inches high with self-closing, self-latching…
Rainwater harvesting is unrestricted across Plymouth County. No Massachusetts statute limits collecting rain, and the county holds no ordinance power. Rain barrels and cisterns for…
No Massachusetts statute caps lawn grass height, and Plymouth County holds no ordinance power. Any height limit across Carver, Wareham, Middleborough, Duxbury, and the South Shore…
Trimming trees on your own land needs no permit anywhere in Plymouth County. But public shade trees along a road or town way cannot be cut or trimmed without the tree warden's written…
No Massachusetts statute or Plymouth County ordinance restricts native or drought-tolerant planting. Residents may replace lawn with native meadow, pollinator beds, or coastal grasses…
No Massachusetts statute defines weeds or forces owners to clear them, and Plymouth County cannot legislate. Weed and overgrowth rules exist only as town nuisance bylaws in places like…
No Plymouth County ordinance governs artificial turf, and towns rarely restrict it on ordinary lots. But installing turf near a marsh, bog, pond, or coastal bank triggers Wetlands…
Plymouth County runs no water system. Outdoor watering limits come from each town or district's Water Management Act permit under MGL c.21G, which conditions large withdrawals and…
You may remove trees on your own land in Plymouth County without a county permit. But no public shade tree in or beside a road may be removed without a tree warden's public hearing and…
Breed-specific bans are illegal in Massachusetts. MGL c.140 §157 bars every Plymouth County town from regulating dogs by breed. No town may ban pit bulls; a dog is regulated only for…
Backyard chickens are allowed subject to each town's zoning bylaw. MGL c.40A §3 bars towns from zoning out commercial agriculture on parcels of five acres, or two acres earning $1,000…
Leash rules are set by each Plymouth County town under authority of MGL c.140 §173. Statewide, MGL c.140 §155 makes a dog's owner strictly liable for any damage the dog does…
Beekeeping is allowed across Plymouth County. Massachusetts registers hives through the state, and MGL c.128 §32 caps the registration fee at five dollars. Towns may add setback rules…
No county rule governs feeding wildlife, but state regulation bars feeding that draws problem animals, and MassWildlife prohibits feeding black bears. Some Plymouth County towns add…
Massachusetts bans keeping most wild and exotic animals without a state license. Under MGL c.131 §23, propagating or maintaining wild mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians requires a…
Plymouth County designates no heritage trees. The strongest state protection is the Scenic Roads Act, MGL c.40 §15C: on a town-designated scenic road, no tree may be cut and no stone…
No county rule forces tree replacement in Plymouth County. For public shade trees removed without consent, MGL c.87 §6 imposes a forfeiture of up to five hundred dollars per violation…
Plymouth County issues no tree-removal permits and has no authority to. Permits are required only for public shade trees, granted by each town's tree warden after a public hearing…
State law protects home child care across Plymouth County. A family child care home is an allowable use no town may prohibit or zone out, but the provider must hold an Early Education…
The county sets no traffic limit. Town zoning bylaws keep a home occupation incidental to the home, and many Plymouth County towns cap client visits, bar nonresident employees, or…
Plymouth County has no zoning power. A home business in Brockton, Plymouth, or any South Shore town answers to that town's zoning bylaw, adopted under state law MGL c.40A. Most towns…
Selling home-baked goods across Plymouth County runs through the local Board of Health under state food code 105 CMR 590. A Residential Kitchen registration and inspection are…
No Plymouth County sign rule exists. Each town's zoning bylaw caps home-business signs, and the common limit for a home occupation is a single non-illuminated sign of about one to two…
Plymouth County towns run their own no-knock protections through local bylaw. Residents post a no-solicitation notice or join a town Do Not Knock registry, and a licensed solicitor who…
A door-to-door seller in Plymouth County is a hawker and pedler under MGL c.101 §13 and needs the state license, plus most towns require a separate local solicitor permit and a police…
A food truck working Plymouth County needs two clearances: a state hawker and pedler license issued by the Division of Standards under MGL c.101 §22, and a mobile food permit from the…
Where a food truck may park and sell is set by each town, not the county. A state-licensed hawker and pedler is subject to local rules under MGL c.101 §22, so Plymouth County towns…
An above-ground pool gets no special break in Plymouth County. Its wall can serve as the required barrier only when it stands 48 inches high, and the access ladder must be removable or…
Every Plymouth County community builds pools under one rulebook, the state building code, 780 CMR. A swimming pool is a regulated structure, so the town building department, not the…
Pool safety in Plymouth County runs on 780 CMR Appendix G. The gate is the heart of it: every pedestrian gate must swing outward, close itself, and latch itself, so a barrier is never…
Across Plymouth County the pool fence rule is the state building code, not a town invention. Every outdoor pool must sit behind a barrier at least 48 inches high, identical in…
Hot tubs get the one real exemption in the pool code. A spa or hot tub fitted with a safety cover meeting ASTM F1346 is excused from the barrier rules, so no 48-inch fence is required…
A carport is a roofed structure, so it takes a building permit in every Plymouth County town under 780 CMR. The town, never the county, reviews it, and local zoning setbacks control…
Since February 2025 an accessory dwelling unit up to 900 square feet is allowed by right in every single-family zone across Plymouth County. State law, not town discretion, made it: no…
Turning a garage into living space is permitted work under 780 CMR in every Plymouth County town. It is a change of use, so the building department reviews egress, ceiling height…
A small shed skips the building permit everywhere in Plymouth County. The state code exempts a one-story detached storage shed of 200 square feet or less, so a backyard shed in…
A tiny home's rules in Plymouth County turn on its foundation. Built on a permanent foundation at 900 square feet or less, it now qualifies as a by-right accessory dwelling unit; on…
Plymouth County runs no trash collection. Each community handles its own: Brockton offers municipal curbside, while Plymouth, Marshfield, Scituate, Duxbury, and Wareham rely on private…
Set-out times come from each town, not the county. Plymouth requires trash and recycling curbside by 7:00 AM on the collection day, and carts must be pulled back promptly afterward…
Recyclables are banned from the trash across Plymouth County by the MassDEP waste ban at 310 CMR 19.017. Glass, metal, and plastic containers, paper, cardboard, and leaf and yard waste…
Mattresses, box springs, and textiles cannot go in the trash anywhere in Plymouth County under the MassDEP waste ban at 310 CMR 19.017, effective November 1, 2022. Whole tires, white…
Garage sale rules come from each community, not the county. Brockton requires a residential Yard Sale Permit from the City Clerk, limits sales to 2 days per calendar year at $5 per…
Where you store and screen trash carts is set by each town's board of health, not the county, under MGL c.111 §31, which lets local boards make reasonable health regulations. Carts…
Blighted and dangerous buildings are handled under MGL c.139 §1, which lets a community, after written notice and a hearing, declare a burnt, dilapidated, or dangerous structure a…
Snow and ice clearing is set by each community under MGL c.85 §5, which lets cities by ordinance and towns by bylaw require abutting owners to clear sidewalks. State law caps the…
Vacant parcels are reached directly by MGL c.139 §1, which names the owner of a vacant parcel of land alongside dangerous buildings. After written notice and a hearing, a community can…
Permits are a local matter, not a county one. Brockton requires a residential Yard Sale Permit from the City Clerk's Office at $5.00 per day, obtainable any time before the sale…
No county rule sets yard sale hours, and the Plymouth County communities impose few limits beyond daylight and general noise bylaws. Sales are expected to run during reasonable daytime…
How often you can hold a sale is capped locally, not by the county. Brockton limits residential yard sales to 2 days per calendar year under its permit. Plymouth and the surrounding…
Massachusetts has no statewide dark-sky lighting law for private property, and Plymouth County cannot make one. Any shielded-lighting or dark-sky requirement comes from a town zoning…
No Massachusetts statute limits light spilling onto a neighbor's property, and Plymouth County cannot regulate it. Remedies come from a town lighting or nuisance bylaw and from a…
State parks in Plymouth County close overnight. Under 302 CMR 12.03, DCR properties like Myles Standish State Forest and Wompatuck State Park are open only from a half hour before…
No Plymouth County town can criminally enforce a juvenile curfew. In Commonwealth v. Weston W., 455 Mass. 24 (2009), the Supreme Judicial Court struck the criminal penalties of a…
Commercial drone operators across Plymouth County follow FAA 14 CFR Part 107: hold a Remote Pilot Certificate, register the aircraft, fly below 400 feet, and keep visual line of sight…
Recreational drone flights across Plymouth County follow federal FAA rules under 49 USC 44809: register drones over 250 grams, pass the TRUST test, fly below 400 feet, and keep visual…
No Plymouth County rule governs garage-sale signs; towns handle them through local sign bylaws. On your own lawn a yard-sale sign is generally fine, but a sign staked in a public way…
Towns, not Plymouth County, regulate signs, through zoning bylaws authorized by MGL c.40A. Those bylaws must stay content-neutral: after Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015), a town cannot…
No Plymouth County or state law limits holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays. Towns rarely regulate seasonal decorations at all, and where a bylaw touches signs or nuisances it…
Rent control is illegal across every Plymouth County community. Massachusetts voters banned it in 1994 through Question 9, now codified as MGL c.40P §4: no city or town may enact…
Rental registration and inspection are local powers, not county ones. The State Sanitary Code under MGL c.111 §127A lets each town's board of health enforce housing standards, and…
Massachusetts has no statewide just-cause eviction law, and no Plymouth County town can add one. A landlord ends a tenancy at will with 30 days' written notice, or 14 days for…
Massachusetts has no state law overriding homeowners' association solar restrictions. In Plymouth County's condominium and HOA communities, recorded covenants can lawfully limit or…
Massachusetts law bars any town zoning bylaw from prohibiting or unreasonably regulating solar energy systems, except to protect health, safety, or welfare. Plymouth County homeowners…
Plymouth County sets no height limit. Building height is capped by each town's zoning bylaw under the Zoning Act, MGL c.40A. Most residential districts across Brockton, Plymouth, and…
Plymouth County has no ordinance power over setbacks. Front, side, and rear yards are set by each town's zoning bylaw under the Massachusetts Zoning Act, MGL c.40A. Brockton, Plymouth…
Plymouth County has no lot-coverage rule. Building coverage and impervious limits are set by each town's zoning bylaw under the Zoning Act, MGL c.40A. Coastal towns add wetlands and…
Home cultivation is legal across Plymouth County. An adult 21 or older may grow up to 6 marijuana plants for personal use under MGL c.94G §7, capped at 12 plants per household…
Marijuana dispensary siting is a town decision, not a county one. Under MGL c.94G §3 each Plymouth County community adopts bylaws governing the time, place, and manner of marijuana…
The Wetlands Protection Act bars removing, filling, dredging, or altering any bank, beach, dune, or wetland, or land within the 100-foot buffer, without an order of conditions from the…
Along Plymouth County's coast, land subject to coastal storm flowage and flooding is a protected resource area under the Wetlands Protection Act. Building in these velocity and flood…
Grading, filling, or altering drainage within 100 feet of a wetland, bank, or coastal resource area triggers the Wetlands Protection Act and requires an order of conditions from the…
Under the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act, no one may discharge pollutants, including construction stormwater, into waters of the commonwealth without a valid permit from MassDEP…
Building a dock, pier, seawall, or placing fill below the high-water mark along Plymouth County's coast requires a Chapter 91 waterways license from MassDEP. Coastal wetlands, beaches…
These cities are located within Plymouth County and may have their own ordinances.
These communities are in unincorporated Plymouth County. County ordinances apply directly to these areas.
Ordinance data for Plymouth County is sourced from the following official government references. Click any topic above for detailed citations.