Zoning, building permits and septic rules in Town of Avoca, New York

Town of Avoca’s own rules

• Local zoningPresent (with conditions)

  Land inside the Town of Avoca, Steuben County, New York.

  • The official State document identifies Town of Avoca zoning district designations and flood-damage-prevention laws; parcel-specific district and overlay controls apply.

  “The Towns of Avoca and Cohocton adopted zoning district designations including flood damage prevention laws.”

• Zoning districtsPublished (with conditions)

  Land inside the Town of Avoca.

  • The cited official State document identifies six base districts and a Flood Plain Overlay district.
  • The Flood Plain Overlay covers area of 100-year flood as delineated by FEMA on Town of Avoca Flood Insurance Rate Maps and has additional regulations and restrictions.

  districts: Agricultural-Residential (A); Low Density Residential (L); Waterfront Residential (W); General Business (B); Highway Commercial (C); Industrial (I); Flood Plain Overlay (F) (Flood Plain Overlay is an overlay district.)

  “Pursuant to the Town of Avoca Zoning Regulations, the following six districts were established within the Town: Agricultural-Residential (A), Low Density Residential (L), Waterfront Residential (W), General Business (B), Highway Commercial (C), and Industrial (I). The Town also has an additional overlay district, the Flood Plain Overlay (F), which covers “area of 100-year flood” as delineated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Town of Avoca Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), within which additional regulations and restrictions apply.”

Rules another office applies inside Town of Avoca

Town of Avoca does not set these itself; the county, a health district or the state does, and they apply to every address inside its limits.

• Certificate of occupancyRequired

  Work requiring a building permit, and changes of occupancy classification, inside the Town of Avoca.

  • A certificate of occupancy or compliance is required for all work for which a building permit was required and when the general occupancy classification changes.
  • The building, structure, or work must be inspected and found compliant before the local government issues the certificate.

  “A certificate of occupancy or a certificate of compliance must be required (1) for all work for which a building permit was required and (2) whenever the general occupancy classification of a building is changed.”

Still unanswered

We looked and could not find an official answer yet. Silence is not permission; ask Town of Avoca or Steuben County directly.

• Owner-builder exemption — Owner-built residential construction inside the Town of Avoca.
• Minimum dwelling size — Dwellings inside the Town of Avoca.
• Minimum lot size — Lots inside the Town of Avoca.
• Setbacks — Structures inside the Town of Avoca.
• Lot coverage — Lots inside the Town of Avoca.

Each answer was extracted from an official source and independently re-checked against that source by a second reviewer. That is an evidence check, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the authority before you buy or build.