Clay, NY Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Screening required
- 7-ft fence, hedge, or opaque barrier
- Applies to
- I-1, I-2 and S-1 industrial districts
- Covers
- Open storage of materials or waste
- Governing section
- Town of Clay Code Section 230-17C(5)(c)[2]
- Enforcing agency
- Office of Planning and Development
Summary
Clay's Zoning Code does not use the word 'dumpster,' but its Industrial district supplemental design standards require that any open storage of materials or waste on an I-1, I-2 or S-1 zoned property, including dumpsters and roll-off containers used to store trash, be screened from every property line by a seven-foot-high fence, hedge or similar opaque barrier under Section 230-17C(5)(c)[2].
Industrial 1 supplemental district design standards. ... (c) Structure design, scale and materials: ... [2] Any open storage of materials or waste shall be screened from view from all property lines with a seven-foot-high fence, hedge or similar opaque barrier. Such screening shall comply with applicable setbacks.
Full Breakdown
Section 230-17 governs Clay's Industrial 1 (I-1), Industrial 2 (I-2) and S-1 Special Use Districts, and each district's supplemental design standards repeats the same open-storage screening rule. For I-1, Section 230-17C(5)(c)[2] states that any open storage of materials or waste shall be screened from view from all property lines with a seven-foot-high fence, hedge or similar opaque barrier, and that the screening shall comply with applicable setbacks. The identical standard applies in the I-2 District and in the S-1 Special Use District, the latter adding that screening must comply with applicable setbacks that may be applicable to the proposed use or subject property.
Because the code defines open storage of materials or waste broadly rather than naming specific containers, a commercial dumpster or roll-off box kept outdoors on an industrially zoned lot falls within the same screening duty as any other outdoor waste storage. The standard sits alongside a separate landscaping rule requiring a front perimeter landscape strip covering 50% of the front-yard depth in I-1, and an additional side or rear yard of 50 feet in I-1 or 100 feet in I-2 and S-1 where the property abuts a nonindustrial district.
Reviewing boards, the Planning Board for site plans and the Town Board for special-permit uses, must also weigh compatibility with nearby residential zones for any property within 500 feet of a Residential Zone District boundary. Compliance is checked at site-plan or special-permit review by the Office of Planning and Development, and again at building-permit and certificate-of-occupancy stages.
Violations & Fines
An industrial property that stores waste, including a dumpster or roll-off container, in the open without the required seven-foot fence, hedge or opaque screen is out of compliance with Section 230-17's supplemental design standards. The Office of Planning and Development and Code Enforcement can withhold a certificate of occupancy or issue a violation notice requiring the screening to be installed and brought within the district's applicable setbacks before use of the storage area may continue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Clay require dumpsters to be screened on commercial or industrial lots?
Does this screening rule apply to residential or standard commercial zones?
Who enforces the waste-screening requirement in Clay's industrial districts?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Clay
New York rules heatmap·Compare Clay to another location·View the New York trash & recycling overview
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Dumpster Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in this county handle dumpster rules.