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

Section 300-40.10 of the Town of Union Code defines livestock as any domestic animal of any age, such as cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, burros, sheep, hogs, pigs, goats, or similar animals, and poultry as chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, fowl, or similar birds of any age. Subsection C then splits the town in two. Inside an agricultural farming operation located in a county-designated agricultural district that is recognized and subject to the Agriculture and Markets Law, keeping, sheltering, or maintaining livestock and poultry is permitted, and that sentence attaches no parcel size or animal count. Everywhere else in the town outside the Villages of Endicott and Johnson City, the keeping is not permitted, with one exception: the Rural Residential District, where the listed standards apply.

For livestock in the Rural Residential District the minimum parcel is two acres, with a maximum of two animals on that two-acre minimum and one additional animal for each additional acre. Livestock must be fenced to stay on the parcel. No barn, shed, or similar structure for livestock shall be located within 100 feet of a property line, and manure, waste, bedding, or other odor-producing material must stay 100 feet from a property line and 100 feet from any private well. Stored manure must sit in a fully enclosed structure with a roof or lid, and manure not used for composting or fertilizing must be removed.

Poultry runs on a smaller scale: a one-acre minimum parcel, a maximum of six birds for each acre, and no roosters at any time except one on parcels three acres or larger. Coops, hutches, and sheds must be 50 feet from a property line, and a building permit is required for the coop and fence, with the fee set by resolution. Feed and water must be available at all times and kept unavailable to rodents, wild birds, and predators.

The Town's other direct reference to farming rights sits in the truck route chapter: § 189-2(B) states that nothing in that chapter limits the right to farm set out in Article 25-AA of the New York State Agricultural and Markets Law.