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

Unlike animal grooming shops, which § 215-24.6B confines entirely to an enclosed building, animal hospitals, veterinary clinics, and kennels are allowed outdoor animal exercise, play, or containment areas under § 215-24.6C, but only with site plan review approval from the Town's reviewing board. That approval process is where the extra scrutiny comes in: all buildings, structures, accessory-use areas, and any outdoor exercise, play, or containment areas, apart from off-street parking, must be located at least 50 feet from any property line abutting a residential use or district, the same 50-foot buffer that applies to grooming shops.

The reviewing board can go further and require screening, such as fencing or landscaping, along lot lines that border residential uses or districts whenever it decides that screening is warranted at its discretion. Regardless of the daytime outdoor allowance, § 215-24.6C requires every animal to be confined to the property and housed in an enclosed structure kept in humane condition, meaning protection from weather, a clean and sanitary environment, adequate space, non-porous surfaces, and adequate ventilation. Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., all animals must be kept within a totally enclosed building, so no overnight outdoor kenneling or unsupervised nighttime access to exercise yards is allowed.

These clinics and kennels also carry the shared § 215-24.6A obligations that apply to every animal-care use in town: securing all required state and local licensing, adopting a waste management plan for excrement disposal, and accepting whatever landscaped buffering the reviewing board finds necessary to protect neighboring properties from noise and odor.