Union, NY Environmental Rules: Vehicle Idling Restrictions (2026)

Section 300-40.20 sets the standards for transportation or freight terminal facilities in the zoning chapter, and subsection D carries the idling rule. Idling of vehicles shall be limited to five minutes in any sixty-minute period. Two exceptions are printed. The first covers idling required for mechanical or electrical operations, but the text closes it off for cabin comfort and for nonessential equipment, so a driver running an engine to heat or cool a cab does not qualify. The second covers emergency operations. The section places responsibility on facility owners, not on individual drivers, and it points to Environmental Conservation Law, Part 217-3 as its reference.

Because the rule sits inside the terminal standards, it comes with the rest of that section. Repair and service of commercially licensed vehicles requires a special use permit for motor vehicle repair within an enclosed building. Loading doors or docks shall not be located adjacent to any residential use or zone or along street frontage. Outdoor storage of materials falls under the outdoor storage requirements in § 300-40.16, which for General Commercial and Industrial Districts bar storage in the front yard setback and require full screening from the public right-of-way and adjacent residential districts or uses. A fueling station is allowed as an accessory use with the issuance of a special permit.

The Planning Board can require landscaping and buffering if the facility is adjacent to less intensive uses such as retail, residential, or mixed uses, under the standards in Article 54. The Board also takes into consideration the character of the area, the traffic impacts, and the proximity to arterial roadways suitable for large trucks. The Town of Union has no police force of its own, so complaints about a terminal in the town outside the Villages of Endicott and Johnson City go to the Town's Building Department and Code Enforcement.