Southampton, NY Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

The Code defines a residential storage shed in § 330-5 as a structure for household equipment, including garden equipment, lawn furniture and bicycles, limited to a maximum gross floor area of 120 square feet and a height no greater than 12 feet, with no external illumination permitted at all. Chapter 123, Building Construction, carves this use out of the ordinary permit process: § 123-8 states that a residential storage shed does not require a building permit, but the property owner must instead submit an owner's certification attesting that the shed complies with current Town Zoning Code regulations, a lighter-touch process than the building permit required for most other accessory structures.

That zoning compliance runs through § 330-77E, which requires a shed to meet the rear and side yard setbacks that Town Code § 330-11 sets for accessory structures in the applicable zoning district, but grants relief on smaller parcels: on lots of 80,000 square feet or less in any zoning district except waterfront lots, the minimum side and rear yard setback drops to 10 feet, and that relief is granted for one shed per lot only. A second shed on the same lot would not qualify for the reduced setback and would instead need to meet the full accessory-structure setback for the district.

Sheds also remain subject to the Town-wide accessory-structure height cap of 20 feet under § 330-77C, though the shed-specific 12-foot cap in the definition controls since it is the more restrictive figure, and to the rule under § 330-77D that accessory structures in a required rear yard cannot cover more than 50% of that yard.