Clarkstown, NY Privacy & Surveillance: Security Camera Rules (2026)

Article XI, Public Peace, Morals and Welfare, added in 2022, defines a "private residential surveillance camera system" as one or more video cameras and related equipment, not publicly owned, used on residential property on a nontemporary basis, and applies the rule to every residentially zoned district in Town. The operative limit in § 157-81(D) bars any camera from having a field of view that "focuses" on a neighboring resident's yard, structure or window, with "focuses" defined as covering more than 50% of the camera's field of view; a camera angled so a neighbor's property fills less than half the frame is not a violation on its face.

Subsection (E) requires that every camera be used for a lawful purpose, including monitoring the safety and integrity of the owner's own property, and allows the view to include public space such as a street or sidewalk. Subsection (F) adds an independent consent rule: no camera may be used to videotape or photograph a neighboring resident's property without the written consent of that neighbor or the neighbor's tenant, a restriction that applies even to a camera that otherwise stays under the 50% field-of-view threshold. Article XI does not contain its own penalties section, so enforcement of a camera violation falls to the chapter's general penalty provision.