Tonawanda, NY Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Town Code § 215-24.6 groups grooming shops with animal hospitals, veterinary clinics, and kennels under one set of Article 24 standards designed to keep animal-care businesses from creating noise, odor, or unsightly impacts on neighboring properties. All four use types must apply for and secure any licensing and registration required by state and local law, and the site plan reviewing board can require landscaped buffers, berming, or fencing to protect adjacent properties, plus a waste management plan for proper disposal of animal excrement. For animal grooming shops specifically, § 215-24.6B requires every service to be performed within a completely enclosed building, meaning no outdoor grooming stations or runs.

Boarding animals overnight or for extended stays is flatly prohibited at a grooming shop, a restriction that distinguishes it from the kennel and veterinary-clinic uses addressed separately in § 215-24.6C, which do allow supervised outdoor exercise areas. Every building, structure, and accessory-use area associated with the grooming shop, aside from off-street parking, must be set back at least 50 feet from any property line that abuts a residential zoning district, giving nearby homes a buffer from noise and odor. A grooming shop proposing to locate near a residential district should expect the Planning Board or reviewing body to weigh that 50-foot setback, the waste management plan, and any additional buffering during site plan review before issuing approval.