Saratoga County

Town of Day, NY: zoning for new construction

5 districts Min residential lot 3.2 ac National Grid

The Town of Day sets a residential minimum of about 3.2 acres in Residential Moderate Density and provided it was also a vacant nonconforming lot of record as of MAY 22, 1973 or was created after that date in compliance with the Adirondack Park Agency Act. THAT 1973 DATE IS THE APA ACT'S OWN CUTOFF AND IT IS THE FIRST THING TO CHECK ON ANY UNDERSIZED DAY PARCEL. Agriculture is permitted by right; forestry is by right outside 528 ft of the South Shore Road centreline and by site plan within it. Minimum dwelling floor area 600 sq ft. THE LOT MINIMA IN THE THREE LARGER DISTRICTS ARE THE APA LAND-USE INTENSITY GUIDELINES, NOT LOCAL NUMBERS: 3.2 ACRES, 8.5 ACRES and 42 ACRES. Those figures recur across every Adirondack town and are the tell that a code has been written to the Park's intensity classes rather than to local judgment. They are one-unit-per-lot minima, so on a Rural/Resource parcel the effective density is roughly one dwelling per 42 acres.), one of its 5 zoning districts. No local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission. 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) 696-3789 before you rely on a figure.

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

Zoning districts

District	Min lot	Setbacks F / S / R	Max height	ADU
Lakefront Residential (the Great Sacandaga Lake shorefront district, and with Neighborhood Commercial the smallest lot in Town: 60,000 SQ FT — about 1.38 acres — with 150 ft of lot width, a 50 ft front yard, 20 ft side and 50 ft rear yards, 25% maximum building coverage and a 30 FT height cap. ACCESSORY STRUCTURES ARE CAUGHT BY THE SHORELINE SETBACK TOO ONCE THEY REACH 100 SQ FT: the general accessory setback is 15 ft in all zones, BUT accessory structures of 100 SQ FT OR LARGER are subject to the shoreline setbacks, and accessory structures OF ANY SIZE are subject to the same front yard setback as a principal building. A 10x10 shed is the threshold. THE TOWN ALSO SETS A MINIMUM FLOOR AREA OF 600 SQ FT for a dwelling in every district — a floor on what may be built, not a ceiling. Uses: a one-family dwelling is permitted by right; MULTI-FAMILY OR APARTMENT HOUSE IS NOT PERMITTED HERE AT ALL (it exists only in RMD and RLD, and only by site plan approval). Bed-and-breakfast, restaurant, tavern, marina/dockominium, commercial dock, campground, cemetery, club, day care, place of worship, roadside stand and lake-related recreation are all site-plan uses — the district is written to let a lakeshore business exist without letting it dominate. THE LOT MINIMA IN THE THREE LARGER DISTRICTS ARE THE APA LAND-USE INTENSITY GUIDELINES, NOT LOCAL NUMBERS: 3.2 ACRES (Moderate Intensity), 8.5 ACRES (Low Intensity) and 42 ACRES (Rural Use / Resource Management). Those figures recur across every Adirondack town and are the tell that a code has been written to the Park's intensity classes rather than to local judgment. They are one-unit-per-lot minima, so on a Rural/Resource parcel the effective density is roughly one dwelling per 42 acres.)	1.38 ac	50 / 20 / 50 ft	30 ft	No
Neighborhood Commercial (small stores and service businesses serving the local population, on DIMENSIONS IDENTICAL TO LAKEFRONT RESIDENTIAL: 60,000 SQ FT, 150 ft of lot width, 50 ft front, 20 ft side, 50 ft rear, 25% coverage, 30 ft height, a 75 ft shoreline setback and a 50 ft stream setback. The two districts are dimensionally indistinguishable and are separated entirely by use. A ONE-FAMILY DWELLING IS PERMITTED BY RIGHT IN NC, but a MULTI-FAMILY OR APARTMENT HOUSE IS NOT PERMITTED HERE — it exists only in RMD and RLD. SENIOR CITIZEN HOUSING DEVELOPMENT and an ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY FOR SENIORS are site-plan uses in NC, RMD and RLD, which is the Town's only multi-unit residential path outside those two districts. Minimum dwelling floor area is 600 sq ft. § 4.5 requires a 30 FT GREEN SPACE BUFFER along side and rear lines for ANY NON-RESIDENTIAL USE bordering an existing residential property — defined as any lot of 10 acres or less whose principal use is residential with a lawfully existing principal structure — kept as vegetation, with no driveways, parking, storage or work area in it. The Planning Board may reduce the width at site plan approval without a variance. That buffer is the real constraint on a small commercial lot here. )	1.38 ac	50 / 20 / 50 ft	30 ft	No
Residential Moderate Density (rural residential neighbourhoods with moderate-size lots: a 3.2-ACRE minimum lot — the APA Moderate Intensity guideline — with 200 ft of lot width, a 75 ft front yard, 40 ft side and 50 ft rear yards, 25% coverage and 30 ft of height, plus a 75 ft stream setback and a 75 ft Great Sacandaga Lake shoreline setback. The district's purpose statement expressly encourages CONSOLIDATION OF VACANT UNDERSIZED LOTS to bring them into conformity — read with § 9.4, which lets any vacant nonconforming lot of record be built on for ONE single-family dwelling WITHOUT A VARIANCE provided it does not adjoin other lots in the same ownership (adjoining lots in one ownership are treated as a single lot) and provided it was also a vacant nonconforming lot of record as of MAY 22, 1973 or was created after that date in compliance with the Adirondack Park Agency Act. THAT 1973 DATE IS THE APA ACT'S OWN CUTOFF AND IT IS THE FIRST THING TO CHECK ON ANY UNDERSIZED DAY PARCEL. Agriculture is permitted by right; forestry is by right outside 528 ft of the South Shore Road centreline and by site plan within it. Minimum dwelling floor area 600 sq ft. THE LOT MINIMA IN THE THREE LARGER DISTRICTS ARE THE APA LAND-USE INTENSITY GUIDELINES, NOT LOCAL NUMBERS: 3.2 ACRES (Moderate Intensity), 8.5 ACRES (Low Intensity) and 42 ACRES (Rural Use / Resource Management). Those figures recur across every Adirondack town and are the tell that a code has been written to the Park's intensity classes rather than to local judgment. They are one-unit-per-lot minima, so on a Rural/Resource parcel the effective density is roughly one dwelling per 42 acres.)	3.2 ac	75 / 40 / 50 ft	30 ft	No
Residential Low Density (rural residential neighbourhoods intended to retain a forested low-density character, with construction on steep slopes discouraged: an 8.5-ACRE minimum lot — the APA Low Intensity guideline — with 300 FT of lot width, a 75 ft front yard, a 50 ft side yard, a 50 ft rear yard, 25% coverage and 30 ft of height, plus a 75 ft stream setback. NO SHORELINE SETBACK IS STATED FOR RLD, RMD's and LR's 75 ft Great Sacandaga figure stopping at RMD — the district simply does not reach the lake. Like RMD it permits a MULTI-FAMILY DWELLING OR APARTMENT HOUSE by site plan approval — one of only two districts that do — along with senior citizen housing and assisted living. HUNTING OR FISHING CAMPS AND CABINS ARE PERMITTED BY RIGHT HERE (site plan in RMD, by right in RLD and RRC) and agriculture is by right. RLD is also the only district permitting an ADULT ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENT, by site plan. Junkyards, kennels, light industrial use, sawmills and mining are site-plan uses in RMD and RLD alike. Minimum dwelling floor area 600 sq ft; the 15 ft accessory setback applies, with any accessory structure held to the principal front yard setback regardless of size. THE LOT MINIMA IN THE THREE LARGER DISTRICTS ARE THE APA LAND-USE INTENSITY GUIDELINES, NOT LOCAL NUMBERS: 3.2 ACRES (Moderate Intensity), 8.5 ACRES (Low Intensity) and 42 ACRES (Rural Use / Resource Management). Those figures recur across every Adirondack town and are the tell that a code has been written to the Park's intensity classes rather than to local judgment. They are one-unit-per-lot minima, so on a Rural/Resource parcel the effective density is roughly one dwelling per 42 acres.)	8.5 ac	75 / 50 / 50 ft	30 ft	No
MULTI-FAMILY, SENIOR HOUSING AND ASSISTED LIVING ARE ALL UNAVAILABLE HERE, as are bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, taverns, retail and offices. What RRC does permit by right is agriculture, forestry and hunting or fishing camps and cabins; by site plan it allows campgrounds, clubs or lodges, golf courses, group camps, mining and quarrying, MOTOCROSS (the only district), sawmills, roadside stands, places of worship, telecommunication towers, tourist attractions, major and minor public utility structures and both lake-related and non-lake-related recreation. The 400 ft lot width carries an express exception for hunting and fishing camps, which is the one narrow path to a small parcel here. Minimum dwelling floor area 600 sq ft. THE LOT MINIMA IN THE THREE LARGER DISTRICTS ARE THE APA LAND-USE INTENSITY GUIDELINES, NOT LOCAL NUMBERS: 3.2 ACRES (Moderate Intensity), 8.5 ACRES (Low Intensity) and 42 ACRES (Rural Use / Resource Management). Those figures recur across every Adirondack town and are the tell that a code has been written to the Park's intensity classes rather than to local judgment. They are one-unit-per-lot minima, so on a Rural/Resource parcel the effective density is roughly one dwelling per 42 acres.)	42 ac	100 / 75 / 75 ft	30 ft	No

Short-term rentals

No local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission. NO SHORT-TERM-RENTAL PROVISION EXISTS IN THE TOWN OF DAY ZONING LAW. A full-text read of the 81-page law returns no 'short-term rental' and no 'vacation rental', and the Town's published list of local laws shows no rental enactment. Recorded 'unknown' rather than 'prohibited': whole-house rental of a permitted single-family dwelling is arguably the residential use itself, and absence of a found provision is NOT permission. WHAT IT DOES REGULATE IS THE OLDER TRANSIENT LADDER. BED AND BREAKFAST is a SITE PLAN use in LR, NC, RMD and RLD (not RRC), and § 8.20 confines it to NOT MORE THAN FIVE ROOMS offered for rent for transient occupancy, with meals — if offered at all — SERVED ONLY TO REGISTERED LODGERS. Appendix D defines it as 'a private dwelling in which at least one (1) and not more than five (5) rooms are offered for rent for transient occupancy'. TOURIST ACCOMMODATION is a separate site-plan use in NC, RMD and RLD, and a TOURIST ATTRACTION in RMD, RLD and RRC. CAMPGROUNDS AND RECREATIONAL VEHICLE PARKS are a site-plan use in every district under § 8.21 on a 10-ACRE minimum, at no more than 10 campsites per acre with a 2,500 sq ft minimum campsite, a 50 FT GREEN SPACE BUFFER around the whole facility, no campsite within 75 ft of the mean high water mark of any navigable water, and NYS Department of Health compliance. Parking is one space per guest sleeping room for a boarding home or tourist accommodation. Get a written answer from the Code Enforcement Officer at (518) 696-3789 before underwriting short-term rental income on a Sacandaga parcel. Separately, New York State has required every short-term-rental host to register the unit with the State through the county registry since 2025 regardless of what the municipality allows, and Saratoga County HAS adopted a county-level short-term-rental programme: a 3% occupancy tax and a MANDATORY county registry, covering any room or space in a dwelling let for under 30 consecutive days. Registration runs two years, an unregistered host faces fines of up to $500, and the booking platform is separately liable for processing an unregistered listing — so Airbnb and Vrbo will delist. The City of Saratoga Springs runs its own registry alongside it.

Good to know

UtilityNational Grid territory.
Building dept(518) 696-3789
Last reviewed2026-08-03

Working out a budget? A standard-finish build here runs $204–$268/sq ft , and a conforming lot adds about $94,720 on top - see the full cost to build a house in Day, or what an ADU costs here.

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