Colonie, NY Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Section 135-8 opens by declaring that, 'regardless of the decibel limits,' ten categories of sound are exempt from the entire noise chapter, and subsection D names one of them directly: sounds from agricultural equipment when operated on a farm, as defined in the Colonie Land Use Law. The exemption sits in the same list that protects emergency sirens, religious bells, funeral processions, snow-removal equipment and government construction work, putting farm equipment on equal footing with those public-interest exceptions rather than subjecting it to a case-by-case variance.

curfew on power equipment. The exemption is limited to noise: nothing in Chapter 135 shields farm operations from the Town's other regulatory chapters, such as zoning, building or nuisance provisions, so a farm still needs to comply with those separately. If a farm operation ever fell outside the exemption's terms, the Zoning Board could still grant a special variance under §135-11 on a showing of hardship, after notice to landowners within 200 feet and a Town Board filing fee.