Clarkstown, NY Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Clarkstown's downtown design guide lives in § 290-7.2K, "Design standards," inside the Hamlet Center Zoning Districts chapter covering Congers (HC-C), Valley Cottage (HC-VC) and West Nyack (HC-WN). It governs every new commercial or multifamily building, addition, exterior renovation needing a building permit or site plan review, and any change to exterior materials or colors, routing them through the Architectural Historic Review Board (AHRB). Site planning rules under (1) require new buildings to align their front facade with the front setback of nearby buildings, place most of the building width at the front of the lot, keep the front facade parallel to the street, and provide a continuous sidewalk running unbroken through any driveway cut. Parking and dumpster rules under (2) push new parking to the side or rear, break large lots into groups of no more than 20 spaces separated by landscaped islands, and require dumpsters and garage doors to be screened from the public way.

Architectural design standards under (3) require new construction to "respect the historical precedents and styles" of the area, ban flat, unarticulated facades and large blank walls facing a public street, and prohibit picture or strip windows wider than six feet unless broken up with mullions or muntins. Exterior materials under (4) must draw from Table 290-7.3D's approved materials list, favoring smaller-scale natural cladding and muted primary colors. Sign standards (6) and exterior lighting standards (7), both AHRB-reviewed, round out the chapter. The guide applies only inside the three mapped Hamlet Center Districts, not the incorporated Villages of Nyack, Upper Nyack or South Nyack, which run their own separate design review under their own village codes.