Delaware County

Town of Delhi, NY: zoning for new construction

4 districts

The Town of Delhi carries 4 zoning districts, each setting its own lot size, setbacks and height for what you can build. Short-term rentals restricted. The district table below has the setbacks, height limits and coverage - confirm the specifics with the building department before you rely on a figure.

Looking specifically at an accessory dwelling unit? See ADU rules for Delhi →

Zoning districts

District	Min lot	Setbacks F / S / R	Max height	ADU
Residential District — the town's densest district and the one nearest the Village of Delhi. Minimum lot size 30,000 sq ft (0.6887 acres); minimum frontage 80 ft; maximum height 35 ft; side and rear setbacks 10 ft each; maximum lot coverage 25%; maximum lot depth-to-width ratio 3:1, which rules out deep narrow lots. Front setback is 15 ft from the boundary of any road or right-of-way 50 ft or more in width, or 40 ft from the CENTER LINE of any road or right-of-way less than 50 ft wide. 15 is recorded because on the common 50 ft right-of-way the first rule governs and it is already a lot-line measure — Delhi is the FIRST town read in this county that states a genuine lot-line front setback rather than the 75-ft-from-centerline formulation used by Andes, Walton and Middletown. On a NARROWER right-of-way the centerline rule takes over and binds harder: a 33 ft right-of-way puts the building about 23.5 ft back from the lot line, not 15. § 502 Calculation of Lot Coverage counts all principal buildings, roofed porches, garages, carports, other accessory buildings AND PAVED PARKING AND DRIVEWAY AREAS. On a rural parcel with a long drive that is much closer to an impervious-surface cap than to a building footprint cap, so this percentage binds far harder than the same number would in a town that measures buildings only. Do not compare it like for like against a neighbouring town's building-coverage figure. USES: one one-family or one two-family dwelling per lot, one mobile home per lot, agriculture, forest management and wildlife management are permitted principal uses. THE R DISTRICT IS THE RESTRICTIVE ONE ON EVERYTHING ELSE — Schedule I marks Multi-Family Dwelling, Mobile Home Park, Cluster Subdivision, Condominiums, Townhouse Dwelling, commercial agriculture, farms and most public uses as NOT PERMITTED here while allowing them by special permit in R-1 and R-3/5. Bed and Breakfast is a special permit use. Note the ordinance's own Buildable Site definition: a site able to support a habitable structure with adequate operation of a well and septic without adversely affecting neighbouring sites' water supply.	0.6887 ac	15 / 10 / 10 ft	35 ft	No
Rural I District — THE ROAD-CORRIDOR DISTRICT, defined geographically rather than by map colour, and the same shape as the Town of Walton's R-2 and the Town of Middletown's R-3. § 405A includes all lands within 500 FEET of the selected public highways shown on the district map, with direct frontage AND direct access to that public road. Compare the neighbours before assuming the width carries across: Walton's corridor runs 1,000 ft from state and county roads and 500 ft from town roads, Middletown's runs 500 ft from state and county roads only, and Delhi's runs 500 ft from the highways its own map selects. Its stated purpose is to allow a variety of mixed uses appropriate to the existing traffic type, volume and road surface quality. Minimum lot size 1 acre; minimum frontage 200 ft of CONTINUOUS road frontage; maximum height 35 ft; side and rear setbacks 10 ft each; maximum lot coverage 25%; maximum lot depth-to-width ratio 3:1. Front setback is 15 ft from the boundary of any road or right-of-way 50 ft or more in width, or 40 ft from the CENTER LINE of any road or right-of-way less than 50 ft wide. 15 is recorded because on the common 50 ft right-of-way the first rule governs and it is already a lot-line measure — Delhi is the FIRST town read in this county that states a genuine lot-line front setback rather than the 75-ft-from-centerline formulation used by Andes, Walton and Middletown. On a NARROWER right-of-way the centerline rule takes over and binds harder: a 33 ft right-of-way puts the building about 23.5 ft back from the lot line, not 15. § 502 Calculation of Lot Coverage counts all principal buildings, roofed porches, garages, carports, other accessory buildings AND PAVED PARKING AND DRIVEWAY AREAS. On a rural parcel with a long drive that is much closer to an impervious-surface cap than to a building footprint cap, so this percentage binds far harder than the same number would in a town that measures buildings only. Do not compare it like for like against a neighbouring town's building-coverage figure. Permitted principal uses are the same as the Residential district; permitted accessory uses add farm labour dwellings and private stables/hobby farms. Unlike R, this district opens multi-family dwellings, mobile home parks, cluster subdivisions, condominiums, townhouses, commercial agriculture and farms — all by special permit from the Planning Board with site plan review where Schedule I marks it.	1 ac	15 / 10 / 10 ft	35 ft	No
Rural III-V District — THE DEFAULT DISTRICT AND THE ANSWER FOR MOST DELHI LAND. § 406A defines it as all lands not described as part of any other district and says it generally includes most of the undeveloped land in the town, so absent a Residential or corridor designation this row is the answer. Purpose: low-density residential and limited commercial development only. § 406F is the base: minimum lot size 5 ACRES, minimum frontage 300 ft continuous road frontage, maximum lot coverage 15%, depth-to-width ratio 4:1, height 35 ft, side and rear 10 ft. § 406G then sets REDUCED DIMENSIONAL REQUIREMENTS for any existing lot, or lot subdivided hereafter, THAT HAS DIRECT ACCESS AND FRONTAGE TO A PUBLIC HIGHWAY in this district: minimum lot size 3 ACRES, minimum frontage 250 ft, maximum lot coverage 20%, same 4:1 ratio, same height and yards. The conservative § 406F figures are recorded because F is drafted as the rule and G as the exception to it; but G is likely to be the operative case for most real subdivisions, since a conforming new lot needs road frontage anyway, and on a parcel fronting a public highway the true minimum is 3 acres and not 5. THAT DIFFERENCE IS 40% OF THE YIELD ON EVERY LOT — establish whether the frontage is on a PUBLIC highway before using either number, and note that F would govern a lot reached by a private road. Front setback is 15 ft from the boundary of any road or right-of-way 50 ft or more in width, or 40 ft from the CENTER LINE of any road or right-of-way less than 50 ft wide. 15 is recorded because on the common 50 ft right-of-way the first rule governs and it is already a lot-line measure — Delhi is the FIRST town read in this county that states a genuine lot-line front setback rather than the 75-ft-from-centerline formulation used by Andes, Walton and Middletown. On a NARROWER right-of-way the centerline rule takes over and binds harder: a 33 ft right-of-way puts the building about 23.5 ft back from the lot line, not 15. § 502 Calculation of Lot Coverage counts all principal buildings, roofed porches, garages, carports, other accessory buildings AND PAVED PARKING AND DRIVEWAY AREAS. On a rural parcel with a long drive that is much closer to an impervious-surface cap than to a building footprint cap, so this percentage binds far harder than the same number would in a town that measures buildings only. Do not compare it like for like against a neighbouring town's building-coverage figure. Permitted principal and accessory uses are the same as Rural I. Multi-family, mobile home parks, cluster subdivisions, condominiums and townhouses are all special permit uses with site plan review.	5 ac	15 / 10 / 10 ft	35 ft	No
Development Limitations Overlay — AN OVERLAY, NOT A STANDALONE DISTRICT: it sits on top of R, R-1 or R-3/5, and its permitted principal uses, permitted accessory uses, front setback, side and rear setbacks, lot coverage and depth-to-width ratio are all expressly the SAME AS THE UNDERLYING DISTRICT, which is why those fields are null here rather than zero. Only three things change, and one of them changes yield. IT IS THE THIRD VARIANT OF THIS OVERLAY FOUND IN DELAWARE COUNTY AND THE MOST SOPHISTICATED — the Town of Walton's DL is a lots-per-acre density table on the original parcel and the Town of Middletown's simply doubles the underlying minimum lot size, but Delhi's § 407H)1) runs a NET DEVELOPABLE ACREAGE CALCULATION: the permitted number of subdivision lots is the greater of (a) net developable acreage divided by the underlying district minimum lot size, where net developable acreage is total parcel acreage MINUS the acreage inside the overlay, or (b) where the ENTIRE parcel lies within the overlay, a minimum lot size of TWO TIMES the underlying district. All calculations must be supplied by a licensed surveyor. The greater-of formulation is deliberately favourable — a parcel only partly encumbered is not penalised twice. TRIGGERS, from § 407A: flood hazard areas including those on FEMA FIRM No. 360193 dated 1985-07-18; freshwater wetlands as defined and protected by the NYS Freshwater Wetlands Act; steep slopes of 15% OR MORE; and high elevation areas of 2,000 FEET OR GREATER. Note Delhi's elevation trigger is 2,000 ft where Middletown's is 2,500 ft, so it catches more Catskill land. Minimum frontage is 50 FT MORE than the underlying district. Maximum height 35 ft. HARD PROHIBITION: § 407G)1) allows NO FURTHER BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FOR ANY PURPOSE within a designated Flood Hazard Area — parking and open space only — which is an outright bar, not a permit condition. Construction within 100 ft of a NYS wetland needs DEC approval before any zoning permit issues, and construction in the flood hazard area needs a Planning Board special use permit. THE OVERLAY MAPS ARE ON FILE IN THE TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE AND ARE NOT PUBLISHED ONLINE, so applicability cannot be settled from the code text — but the Planning Board may accept slope, elevation or watershed detail certified by a licensed surveyor, and its applicability determination is appealable to the Zoning Board of Appeals under § 805B)1).	—	—	35 ft	No

Short-term rentals

Short-term rentals restricted. There is no short-term rental provision in the Town of Delhi Zoning Ordinance — the phrase does not appear — but this is NOT an unregulated town, and reading the silence as permission would be the wrong conclusion. The Ordinance defines BED AND BREAKFAST at § 202 as "an establishment in a private dwelling that supplies temporary accommodations to overnight guests for a fee", says meals may or may not be provided, and states expressly that "tourist homes, boarding houses, and inns are included here". Paid overnight accommodation in a private dwelling with no meals is therefore squarely inside the town's own definition, and Schedule I makes Bed and Breakfast a SPECIAL PERMIT use in all three districts — R, R-1 and R-3/5 alike — requiring application to the Delhi Town Planning Board. That is a discretionary approval, not a registration and not an as-of-right use, which is why this is recorded as restricted. Site plan review is marked NO for this use in Schedule I, so the special permit is the whole of the process. TREAT THE CLASSIFICATION AS AN INFERENCE TO CONFIRM, NOT AS A QUOTED RULE: the Ordinance was adopted in 1990 and last amended in 2002, long before short-term rental platforms existed, so nobody drafting that definition was thinking about them. The Code Enforcement Officer's reading of whether an unhosted whole-house rental is a "bed and breakfast" is what actually governs, and it could go either way. Ask the Code Enforcement Officer before underwriting rental income, and do not confuse this town with the VILLAGE of Delhi inside it, which is a separate jurisdiction with its own Chapter 300 zoning.

Good to know

Last reviewed2026-08-24

Working out a budget? A standard-finish build here runs $191–$250/sq ft - see the full cost to build a house in Delhi, or what an ADU costs here.

Sizing up a specific parcel in Delhi?

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Other Delaware County towns

All Delaware County zoning: Andes · Franklin · Middletown · Sidney · Walton · Delhi (Village) · Hancock (Village) · Sidney (Village) · Walton (Village)

Zoning figures for Town of Delhi are compiled from the municipal code (last reviewed 2026-08-24) and provided for decision-support only - not legal, engineering, or architectural advice. Setback and dimensional standards often carry conditions and exceptions; verify with the municipality before relying on any number. Source: Offsite / Aldo zoning dataset, municipalData.js.