Hempstead, NY Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

Any proposal for a mother-daughter residence in the Town of Hempstead must run through the Board of Architectural Review created by § 85-4: three members, the Commissioner of Buildings or a designee, the Town Engineer or a designee, and a designee of the Town Supervisor, all confirmed by the Town Board, serving at its pleasure, and all required to live in the Town. Under § 85-10, the Building Department forwards every mother-daughter application, along with preliminary plans, sketches and other submitted papers, to this Review Board.

Section 85-3 directs the Board to decide whether a proposed unit is a genuine mother-daughter residence or really a disguised two-family home, weighing ingress and egress, the number of meters, doorbells and mailboxes, the layout around the inner stairway to the second floor, off-street parking, outside stairways from the second floor, and whether the home could be restored to exclusive one-family use. The Board may hire a registered architect or engineer to advise it, though that consultant cannot vote and the Town Board must approve the fee (§ 85-9).

Every Review Board recommendation must be a resolution stating findings of fact, sent to the Building Department for the file (§ 85-8), and adopted under procedural rules the Board itself sets subject to Town Board approval (§ 85-7). Critically, § 85-11 bars the Board of Zoning Appeals from even hearing a mother-daughter application until the Review Board has completed this review.