Albany, NY Accessory Structures: ADU Impact Fees (2026)

New York impact fee authority operates under home-rule plus Town/Village Law and General City Law, but the state has no general impact fee enabling statute parallel to California's Mitigation Fee Act. Court decisions (most prominently Albany Area Builders Ass'n v. Town of Guilderland, 74 N.Y.2d 372 (1989)) hold that municipalities cannot impose impact fees without specific statutory authority and that exactions must satisfy the rough-proportionality and rational-nexus standards under Nollan/Dolan. As a consequence, the City of Albany has not adopted residential impact fees. ADU construction costs in Albany are limited to: (1) USDO use review and zoning compliance review fees through the Department of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance; (2) building permit fees calculated under the city's adopted permit fee schedule (the Fee Chart on the city's website lists residential improvement fees ranging from $50 for fences/sheds to $100 for accessory structures including detached garages, with larger valuations on a sliding scale); (3) electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permit fees; (4) Albany Water Department tap fees if a new water service is installed (sharing the existing service with the principal dwelling generally avoids new connection charges); (5) Albany County Hall of Records filing fees if any easements or covenants are recorded. School funding: Albany City School District is funded through the state foundation aid formula plus the city's school tax levy on assessed value; New York does not authorize school impact fees on residential development. SEQRA review applies if the ADU is part of a larger 'action' (subdivision, multiple ADUs across a development), but single-parcel ADU construction normally qualifies as a Type II action exempt from full SEQRA review under 6 NYCRR 617.5.