New Rochelle, NY Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Section 331-4 of the Zoning Code defines 'Animal Day Care' as 'a business providing pet services, including grooming, bathing, boarding, recreation, training and sales of related products,' a single definition that covers everything from a walk-in dog groomer to a full boarding kennel. The use table for the LI Light Industry District at § 331-59(A)(16) added 'Animal day care' as a permitted principal use on October 20, 2015 by Ordinance No. 203-2015, alongside other by-right industrial uses like wholesale distribution, medical laboratories and self-storage facilities.

The newer LI-H Light Industry Hotel District, created October 16, 2018 by Ordinance No. 1(A). Outside these two light-industry districts, the Zoning Code's use tables for residential, Neighborhood Business (NB) and most other commercial districts do not list animal day care as a permitted or special-permit use, so a grooming or boarding business proposing a location outside LI or LI-H needs either a use variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals or a rezoning, not a routine site plan approval. A groomer that also treats animals medically, rather than just bathing, boarding or training them, would fall instead under the separate 'Animal Hospital' definition and its own, broader set of permitted districts.