Smithtown, NY Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Section 322-82C(1) of the Building Zone Ordinance lists animal boarding, kennel, veterinarian, animal hospice, and animal hospital uses among the special exception uses requiring Board of Appeals approval, and it layers additional standards on top of the general special-exception criteria in Section 322-94G. Outside pens or exercise runs are permitted only in the WSI (Waterfront Special Industrial) zone, and even there they must sit at least 100 feet from every property line and at least 200 feet from any residence district, enclosed on all sides by a wall or solid fence between five and six feet tall.

A veterinary use sited in the WSI District also faces an increased fifty-foot side-yard requirement unless the building instead meets the soundproofing standard that otherwise applies to the NB, CB, and SCB business districts. In those business districts, all treatment rooms, cages, pens, runs, and kennels must be located inside a completely enclosed, soundproof building, and the applicant must submit structural plans certified by an acoustical engineer confirming the design meets the sound-transmission-loss standard cross-referenced to Chapter 207, Noise. The ordinance also requires equipment to absorb odors and adequate service for refuse removal.

Because this is a special exception rather than a permitted use, the Board of Appeals reviews each application individually and can attach its own conditions; violating any condition the Board sets is itself treated as a chapter violation under Section 322-105. Separately, Section 322-3's definition of "home occupation" expressly excludes veterinarian offices, animal hospices, animal boarding facilities, kennels, and animal hospitals, so none of these uses may be run out of a home as an accessory use anywhere in the Town.