ADU · Saratoga County
Can you build an ADU in Greenfield, NY?
Town of Greenfield has 7 districts. All districts allow ADUs. Check your address to confirm the district that applies to your parcel:
What the Greenfield code indicates by district
The table below shows how each district treats ADUs, alongside the lot and setback standards that govern a second unit. District boundaries and conditions vary, so treat this as a starting point and confirm the district that applies to your parcel.
| District | Min lot | Setbacks F / S / R | Max height | ADU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Density Residential District (a single-family dwelling on 4 ACRES WITH SEWER rising to 6 ACRES WITHOUT, 200/250 ft frontage, 75 ft front yard, 50 ft side, 75 ft rear, a 0.15 coverage ratio (15%) and 35 ft height. The area table states TWO minimum lot sizes per use, WITH SEWER and WITHOUT SEWER, and minLotSize records the with-sewer figure. Greenfield is largely unsewered, so the without-sewer column is the one that usually governs — check service before sizing anything. At six unsewered acres this is among the largest residential minimums in Saratoga County, and since Greenfield is a rural town in the Palmertown Range foothills with little public sewer, six acres is the realistic figure for most LDR land. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%. The frontage column prints a PAIR (e.g. 200/250) rather than one number; the two figures distinguish lot configurations, so read Appendix E directly rather than assuming the lower one applies. Most non-residential uses share the identical 4/6-acre, 200/250 ft, 75-50-75, 0.15, 35 ft row — academic institutions, bed-and-breakfast, cemetery, community residence, family day care, garage apartment, in-law apartment, home occupation Type 1 and single mobile homes are all priced the same. The exceptions are the large ones: a CAMPGROUND and a KENNEL each need 10 ACRES (the kennel at 100 ft side and rear yards), a large contractor's storage yard 6 acres with 100 ft side and rear, a farmstand 6 acres, and home occupation Type 2 six acres with sewer or eight without. Agricultural uses and agricultural processing are the outlier in the other direction at 2 acres either way, with a 0.6 ratio and 50 ft height — a materially larger envelope than a house gets.) | 4 ac | 75 / 50 / 75 ft | 35 ft | As of right |
| Medium Density Residential 1 District (THE TOWN'S DENSEST RESIDENTIAL STANDARD: a single-family dwelling on 1 ACRE WITH SEWER or 1.5 ACRES WITHOUT, 100/150 ft frontage, 40 ft front yard, 25 ft side, 50 ft rear, a 0.30 coverage ratio (30%) and 35 ft height. Against LDR that is a quarter of the lot, half the front yard, half the side yard and double the coverage — MDR1 is where Greenfield's conventional residential development actually happens. The area table states TWO minimum lot sizes per use, WITH SEWER and WITHOUT SEWER, and minLotSize records the with-sewer figure. Greenfield is largely unsewered, so the without-sewer column is the one that usually governs — check service before sizing anything. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%. The frontage column prints a PAIR (e.g. 200/250) rather than one number; the two figures distinguish lot configurations, so read Appendix E directly rather than assuming the lower one applies. The garage apartment and in-law apartment rows sit at 2 acres with sewer / 3 without at 200/300 ft frontage, so an accessory unit here requires DOUBLE the land of the principal dwelling — a significant and easily missed cost. Agricultural uses and agricultural processing move to a special use permit in MDR1 where they are site-plan-review in LDR, which is the clearest signal of the district's more suburban intent.) | 1 ac | 40 / 25 / 50 ft | 35 ft | As of right |
| Medium Density Residential 2 District (a single-family dwelling on 2 ACRES WITH SEWER or 3 ACRES WITHOUT, 150/200 ft frontage, 75 ft front yard, 35 ft side, 75 ft rear, a 0.15 coverage ratio (15%) and 35 ft height. DESPITE THE NAME, MDR2 IS CLOSER TO LDR THAN TO MDR1: it shares LDR's 75 ft front and rear yards and its 0.15 coverage ratio, and only the lot size and side yard sit between the two. Anyone reading MDR1 and MDR2 as a matched pair will overstate what MDR2 allows — the coverage ratio is HALF MDR1's and the front yard nearly double. The area table states TWO minimum lot sizes per use, WITH SEWER and WITHOUT SEWER, and minLotSize records the with-sewer figure. Greenfield is largely unsewered, so the without-sewer column is the one that usually governs — check service before sizing anything. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%. The frontage column prints a PAIR (e.g. 200/250) rather than one number; the two figures distinguish lot configurations, so read Appendix E directly rather than assuming the lower one applies. Garage and in-law apartments take 2 acres with sewer / 3 without at 150/200 ft frontage, matching the principal dwelling rather than doubling it as MDR1 requires — so an accessory unit is materially cheaper in land here than one district over.) | 2 ac | 75 / 35 / 75 ft | 35 ft | As of right |
| Town Center District (the village-scale core and, with Office Residential, the only place Greenfield permits an urban form: a single-family dwelling on 1 ACRE WITH SEWER or 2 ACRES WITHOUT, 75/120 ft frontage, a 45 ft front yard, 10 FT ONE SIDE / 25 FT BOTH SIDES, only a 15 FT REAR YARD, a 0.5 coverage ratio (50%) and 50 FT HEIGHT. The area table states TWO minimum lot sizes per use, WITH SEWER and WITHOUT SEWER, and minLotSize records the with-sewer figure. Greenfield is largely unsewered, so the without-sewer column is the one that usually governs — check service before sizing anything. THE SIDE YARD IS A PAIR AND BOTH FIGURES BIND — 10 ft on any one side and 25 ft for the two combined, so two 10 ft side yards are not compliant and the second must be at least 15 ft. THE 15 FT REAR YARD IS THE SHALLOWEST IN THE TOWN by a wide margin, against 50 ft in MDR1 and 75 ft in LDR and MDR2, and together with the 50% coverage and 50 ft height it is what makes TC the only district where a genuinely compact building is possible. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%. The frontage column prints a PAIR (e.g. 200/250) rather than one number; the two figures distinguish lot configurations, so read Appendix E directly rather than assuming the lower one applies. Garage and in-law apartments take the same 1/2-acre, 75/120 ft, 45 ft, 10-one/25, 15 ft, 0.5, 50 ft row as the principal dwelling, so an accessory unit costs no additional land here at all — the most permissive accessory-unit economics in the Town.) | 1 ac | 45 / 10 / 15 ft | 50 ft | As of right |
| Office Residential District (DIMENSIONALLY IDENTICAL TO TOWN CENTER in every column — 1 acre with sewer / 2 acres without, 75/120 ft frontage, 45 ft front, 10 ft one side / 25 ft both, 15 ft rear, 0.5 coverage ratio (50%), 50 ft height — so the two districts differ entirely in permitted USE rather than in envelope, OR admitting professional office activity alongside housing. The area table states TWO minimum lot sizes per use, WITH SEWER and WITHOUT SEWER, and minLotSize records the with-sewer figure. Greenfield is largely unsewered, so the without-sewer column is the one that usually governs — check service before sizing anything. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%. ON THE ACCESSORY DWELLING, OR AND TC ARE IDENTICAL AS WELL: Appendix D lists the in-law apartment as PA and the garage apartment as SUP in both. The side yard is a pair and both figures bind, as in TC.) | 1 ac | 45 / 10 / 15 ft | 50 ft | As of right |
| Industrial Manufacturing District (2 ACRES with or without sewer — the only district where the sewer ladder collapses to a single figure — with 200 ft frontage, 50 ft front yard, 25 ft side, 40 ft rear, a 0.6 coverage ratio (60%, the highest in the Town) and 50 ft height. Nearly every IM use shares that identical row: academic institutions, boardinghouse, contractor's storage yard, home occupation Type 1, hospitals and institutions for the handicapped, and hotel, inn or motel. THE SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING IS 'n/a' IN IM — NOT ALLOWED — which makes this the only Greenfield district with no by-right housing at all. The in-law apartment IS listed at the same 2-acre row, which is an oddity given there is no principal dwelling to be accessory to; § 105-7 defines it as contained within a single-family detached structure, so the listing presumably attaches to a boardinghouse or similar and is worth confirming before relying on it. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%.) | 2 ac | 50 / 25 / 40 ft | 50 ft | As of right |
| That is not a typo — the figure is stated identically for both the with-sewer and without-sewer columns, and the garage and in-law apartment rows repeat it at 42.7 acres with 800 ft of frontage. THE PRACTICAL EFFECT IS THAT PR LAND IS NOT RESIDENTIALLY DEVELOPABLE at any ordinary parcel size: 42.7 acres is roughly seven times the largest requirement anywhere else in Greenfield and about 65 times the MDR1 serviced minimum, and the 5% coverage ratio caps a 42.7-acre lot's buildings at about 93,000 sf spread across the whole parcel. Treat PR as conservation and recreation land with a theoretical single homesite rather than as acreage to underwrite. Adult uses are the one activity PR uniquely permits (by special use permit), available in no other Greenfield district. COVERAGE IS STATED AS A RATIO, NOT A PERCENTAGE. Appendix E's column is headed 'Maximum Lot Coverage Ratio' and prints decimals — 0.15, 0.30, 0.5, 0.6, 0.05 — which maxLotCoverage stores as the equivalent integer percent. Read the decimal before converting: 0.5 is 50%, not 5%.) | 42.7 ac | 150 / 100 / 150 ft | 35 ft | As of right |
ADUs vs. short-term rentals in Greenfield
No local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission for Town of Greenfield. No short-term-rental provision exists in the Town of Greenfield Zoning Law. Chapter 105 defines no short-term rental, vacation rental or transient-occupancy use, and Appendix D Table 1 Use Regulations lists none. There is no registration or licensing requirement in the chapter. THE ENUMERATED SHORT-STAY USES ARE THREE AND ALL ARE PERMIT-GATED, which is more than most Saratoga towns offer: BED-AND-BREAKFAST, HOTEL/INN/MOTEL, and CAMPGROUND, the last requiring 10 ACRES in Low Density Residential. Table 1 uses an explicit five-value key — PP (principal permitted use), SPR (permitted subject to site plan review), SUP (permitted subject to special use permit), PA (permitted as accessory to a principal use) and n/a (use not allowed) — so a use marked n/a is affirmatively prohibited and a use absent from the table has no route at all. Recorded 'unknown' rather than 'prohibited' because the Town has never legislated on short-term rental specifically, and whole-house rental of a permitted single-family dwelling is arguably the residential use itself. Absence of a found STR provision is NOT permission. Greenfield sits in the Palmertown Range foothills between Saratoga Springs and the southern Adirondacks, so short-stay demand is real — get a written answer from the Building Department at (518) 893-7432 x304 before underwriting it. 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. These are separate questions from whether you can build an ADU — a unit you're allowed to add isn't automatically one you're allowed to rent nightly, so check both.
Good to know
- Residential lot minimum1–42.7 ac — an ADU still has to fit the district's lot and setback envelope.
- UtilityNational Grid territory.
- Building dept(518) 893-7432 x304
- Last reviewed2026-07-31
ADU FAQ — Greenfield, NY
Are ADUs allowed in Greenfield, NY?
Town of Greenfield has 7 districts. All districts allow ADUs. Check your address with the free ADU checker, or confirm with the building department at (518) 893-7432 x304.
Do I need a special permit for an ADU in Greenfield?
No district in Town of Greenfield requires a special-use permit for an ADU - 7 districts allow ADUs. Site-plan review or a building permit may still apply.
Can I use an ADU as a short-term rental in Greenfield?
No local short-term-rental law on record - which is not the same as permission for Town of Greenfield. ADU occupancy and short-term-rental rules are separate: an ADU you can build isn't automatically one you can rent nightly. Confirm both before you count on STR income.
What an ADU costs to build in Greenfield
Permission is one question and budget is another. An 800 sq ft accessory unit here runs roughly $200k–260k at a standard finish, and the per-square-foot rate comes in above a full house because the kitchen, bath, panel and heating plant cost the same either way. See the full cost to build an ADU in Greenfield, priced by size.
More on Greenfield: Full zoning for new construction · ADU build cost · House build cost · All Saratoga County towns
ADU information for Town of Greenfield is compiled from the municipal code (last reviewed 2026-07-31) and provided for decision-support only — not legal or architectural advice. ADU eligibility, size, owner-occupancy and permit conditions vary by district and often carry exceptions; verify with the building department at (518) 893-7432 x304 before relying on any answer. Source: Offsite / Aldo zoning dataset, municipalData.js.