Rensselaer County

Village of East Nassau, NY: zoning for new construction

3 districts Min residential lot 2 ac National Grid

The Village of East Nassau sets a residential minimum of about 2 acres in Rural Residential District, one of its 3 zoning districts. Short-term rentals allowed with local rules. Power here is National Grid territory. The district table below has the setbacks, height limits and coverage - confirm the specifics with the building department at (518) 794-0289 before you rely on a figure.

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

Zoning districts

District	Min lot	Setbacks F / S / R	Max height	ADU
Rural Residential District	2 ac	75 / 50 / 75 ft	—	As of right
Hamlet District	2 ac	25 / 25 / 25 ft	—	As of right
Waterfront Residential District	2 ac	50 / 50 / 50 ft	—	As of right

Short-term rentals

Short-term rentals allowed with local rules. The Village's code is published at villageofeastnassau.gov: the 51-page Zoning Law is Local Law No. 1 of 2019, and the Local Laws page carries the full index through Local Law No. 1 of 2025 (Accessory Dwelling Units). Read in full 2026-08-27. THE GOVERNING PROVISION IS THE LODGING USE. Article on Definitions: 'LODGING: Any use of a building, in whole or in part, for the temporary overnight accommodations of guests or visitors for compensation or other consideration. Said term includes, but is not limited to, the following uses: hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, group home, boarding, lodging, or rooming house, AND THE RENTAL OF PRIVATE DWELLINGS, or portions thereof, or residential accessory buildings.' That last clause names whole-house and partial short-term renting outright — there is no need to argue by analogy. IN THE DISTRICT SCHEDULE OF USE REGULATIONS, 'Lodging' RUNS X* / X* / NP across the Village's three districts — Hamlet, Rural Residential and Waterfront Residential. READ THE LEGEND: here 'X designates a special permit use within the land use district — the use is not allowed until a special use permit is issued', '*' means site plan review is also required, and 'NP designates use prohibited by law within the land use district.' So a short-term rental in the Hamlet or Rural Residential district requires BOTH a special use permit and site plan approval, and IN THE WATERFRONT RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT IT IS PROHIBITED OUTRIGHT — a variance under Article X is the only route there. The Village uses the same X-means-special-permit convention as the surrounding Town of Nassau and as Castleton-on-Hudson; a reader carrying the more common meaning of X across would get this backwards. The schedule is also closed: 'Any use not specifically listed below is prohibited.' There is no separate short-term-rental permit, registration, occupancy cap, fee schedule or licence in the Village code — the entire regime is the special-permit and site-plan process for a Lodging use, which means the standards applied are the Village Board's site plan review standards rather than any STR-specific ones. Note the Village publishes at villageofeastnassau.gov; the .org address is a stale site that only redirects. Separately, New York State's 2025 STR registry requires every host statewide to register the unit through the Rensselaer County registry regardless of what the municipality allows. Confirm with the building department at (518) 794-0289 before listing. Municipal source

Good to know

UtilityNational Grid territory.
Building dept(518) 794-0289
Last reviewed2026-08-05

Working out a budget? A standard-finish build here runs $200–$262/sq ft , and a conforming lot adds about $13,658 on top - see the full cost to build a house in East Nassau, or what an ADU costs here.

Sizing up a specific parcel in East Nassau?

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