Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

The Township Council writes agricultural use into the residential articles of Chapter 430 as a permitted use rather than creating a separate agricultural district. The text of § 430-38B in the R-R Residential District article is repeated in § 430-47B for the R-1, R-1M and R-1M(r) Districts and in § 430-56B for the R-2 and R-2M Districts. A permitted building is one used for horticultural, agricultural or dairying purposes, poultry or domestic animal-raising.

The setbacks are printed in feet. No building for the housing of cows, calves, bulls, horses, sheep, goats and birds, and no hog building, hog pen, hog run or enclosure, can be within 100 feet of any side or rear lot line or within 200 feet of any front lot line. Fertilizer or manure cannot be heaped, piled or stored within 100 feet of any side or rear lot line or within 400 feet of any front lot line. A building, run or enclosure for fowl with 60 square feet of floor space or less must be at least 15 feet from any side or rear lot line and 100 feet from any front lot line. For each additional 60 square feet of floor space or fraction thereof, the side and rear requirement rises one foot and the front yard requirement five feet, with an additional fifty-foot setback for each story that the fowl building is over two feet in height. Separate buildings are cumulative, and the ceiling is 200 feet for side and rear yards and 400 feet for front yards, plus 50 feet for each story above two stories.

Three conditions close the provision: no animals or poultry can be kept unless adequate shelter is provided, any structure erected for these purposes must be accessory to a residential dwelling, and the permitted uses are limited to an area of not less than five acres. Related provisions in the R-R article expressly prohibit kennels as defined in Chapter 91, Animals, in § 430-39B(1), and allow private stables only on a plot or lot of not less than five acres under § 430-40E. Erecting any building or structure requires a zoning permit signed by the Administrative Officer under § 430-295.