Yonkers, NY Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

City Code Chapter 43, the Zoning Ordinance, regulates residential waterfront accessory structures under § 43-41, Supplementary Regulations for Certain Accessory Residential Uses and Structures, Subsection I, Piers, Docks and Boathouses. A boathouse or covered moorage on a residential lot cannot exceed 10 feet in height above high tide, and the combined floor area of boathouses and covered moorages on a lot cannot exceed 40% of the rear yard. A pier is capped at 50 feet of length measured from the high-tide line and six feet of width, and it must be attached to the shore between the projected minimum side-yard setback lines for that lot, so a dock cannot be built past a neighbor's side property line extended into the water.

These are dimensional standards layered onto whatever principal residential use already applies to the parcel; they sit alongside the same section's rules for decks, patios, home occupations, group family day-care homes and pigeon-raising coops, all grouped as accessory uses subject to the underlying residential district's setback and yard requirements. The Zoning Ordinance's general provisions (Article XII, referenced at the head of Chapter 43) also cross-reference other applicable city codes, including Wharves, Docks and Bulkheads at Chapter 122 and Environmental Quality Review at Chapter 48, for waterfront construction that is not purely a private residential pier or boathouse.

Because the exported code text for this subsection does not include a companion permit-application or site-plan-filing clause, this record covers only the dimensional limits actually printed in § 43-41I; any separate building-permit or Army Corps/DEC sign-off step for shoreline construction is not quoted here and should be confirmed with the Department of Housing and Buildings before design work begins.