New Rochelle, NY Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 89, Article VII, Farm Animals, was adopted December 14, 1999 by Ordinance No. 290-1999, replacing an older ordinance on cattle, swine and fowl. Section 89-17 lays out the Council's legislative findings: keeping farm animals, defined to include equine, swine, bovine, ruminant and avian species, on land with inadequate size and setbacks causes offensive odors that hurt neighbors' quality of life, property values, and public health and safety. Section 89-18A then sets the operative standard: no farm animal, including avian species such as chickens, may be kept, permitted, harbored or raised on a parcel smaller than two acres, and the property must provide at least one full acre for each animal kept, plus a minimum 50-foot buffer from any adjacent residential property line.

A narrow grandfather clause covers animals already present on residentially zoned land that is between one and two acres per animal on the date the article took effect; those animals may stay if the owner meets Subsection B's conditions, keeping the animal in an enclosed structure from dusk to dawn and never letting it roam within 50 feet of an adjoining residential lot, within 30 days of adoption, but the animal cannot be replaced once it is gone. 1 sets the penalty at a fine of not more than $250 for each day a violation continues, or imprisonment of not more than 15 days, or both.

An earlier, genuinely breed-specific Pit Bull Terriers ordinance that once occupied this Article VII slot was repealed in 2001 and has no bearing on farm animals.