ADU · Orange County

Can you build an ADU in Goshen, NY?

Town of Goshen has 5 districts. 3 districts allow ADUs with occupancy restrictions, 2 do not. Check your address to confirm the district that applies to your parcel:

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What the Goshen code says

In HR, HC and CO one accessory apartment is permitted by right, subject to site plan review by the Planning Board, where the owner occupies the principal building.

Conditions the code attaches:

Within the owner-occupied building, the apartment may occupy the lesser of 1,000 sq ft or 30% of the floor space (§ 97-84).
A unit on the same lot as an owner-occupied single-family house, rather than inside it, may be no larger than 1,000 sq ft (§ 97-84).
The apartment must be connected to the same well as the principal residence (§ 97-12A).
No permit is granted without certification that the public water supply and service connection, or the well and septic system serving both units, are adequate (§ 97-12A).
The apartment is not counted as a residential unit when density is determined (§ 97-12A(2)).
Town of Goshen: (845) 294-6430.

What the Goshen 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
Agricultural-Industrial	1.84 ac	50 / 30 / 50 ft	—	No
Highway Commercial	1 ac	25 / 30 / 50 ft	45 ft	Occupancy restricted
Commercial	1 ac	50 / 30 / 50 ft	35 ft	Occupancy restricted
Industrial	5 ac	100 / 50 / 75 ft	45 ft	No
Hamlet Residential	0.18 ac	—	35 ft	Occupancy restricted

Agricultural-Industrial - The lot minimum for a single-family dwelling is subject to the environmental control formula at § 97-18D, so a constrained parcel needs more land. A dwelling must stand at least a hundred feet from any lot line abutting a nonresidential use.

Residential developers must accept a covenant acknowledging that spraying, dusting, noise and odour are ongoing and expected.
Residential developers must also provide retention or detention ponds so that stormwater from a developed lot cannot drain into a black-dirt operation.
A food processing or packaging plant needs at least five acres, and warehousing and wholesaling of farm products at least three acres.
A trucking terminal over fifteen hundred square feet needs at least five acres, as does dormitory or multiple-unit housing for farm workers where it sits on its own lot.

Highway Commercial - A nonresidential building's footprint is capped at forty thousand square feet. Where the lot abuts a residential district, the side and rear setbacks are replaced by a setback of at least a hundred feet with a wooded buffer.

On a county or state road the front setback is 35 feet instead of the town-road figure shown.
Road frontage must be at least 200 feet on a town road and at least three hundred feet on a county or state road.
The footprint cap excludes agricultural structures and anything already permitted before the chapter was adopted.
Height is measured above average grade, with exceptions in § 97-40D.
For residential uses only, the lot minimum is subject to the environmental control formula at § 97-18D.

Commercial - On a county or state road the front setback is 150 feet instead of the town-road figure shown. A nonresidential building's footprint is capped at two hundred thousand square feet.

Where the lot abuts a residential district, the side and rear setbacks are replaced by a setback of at least a hundred feet with a wooded buffer.
Road frontage must be at least 200 feet on a town road.
Height is measured above average grade, with exceptions in § 97-40D.
For residential uses only, the lot minimum is subject to the environmental control formula at § 97-18D.

Industrial - On a county or state road the front setback is 200 feet instead of the town-road figure shown. Where the lot abuts a residential district, the side and rear setbacks are replaced by a setback of at least a hundred feet with a wooded buffer.

Road frontage must be at least 200 feet on a town road.
Building footprint is not capped in this district.
Height is measured above average grade, with exceptions in § 97-40D.

Hamlet Residential - The district's rules apply only where public sewer and public water are both available. Without them, the land is governed by the RU District regulations instead, including that district's use table (§ 97-15A).

A two-family dwelling needs at least ten thousand square feet, a multifamily dwelling at least twelve thousand and an attached townhome at least two thousand five hundred.
Constrained land does not count toward any lot minimum.
A steep slope here means a contiguous run of at least fifteen hundred square feet with at least ten feet of continuous horizontal width perpendicular to the slope.
At least thirty percent of the site must be protected as undeveloped open space, by conservation easement or dedication to the Town as parkland, and may not include wetlands or other constrained land.
Areas developed before the land was zoned Hamlet Residential are exempt from the open space requirement.

ADUs vs. short-term rentals in Goshen

Short-term rentals allowed with local rules for Town of Goshen. Short-term rentals are regulated by the Town of Goshen's zoning code, which defines the use in § 97-84 and governs allowable uses by district and prohibited uses in § 97-10. Confirm how the rules apply to a given property with the Town before listing. 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 minimum0.18 ac — an ADU still has to fit the district's lot and setback envelope.
UtilityOrange & Rockland territory.
Zoning codeecode360.com/GO0551
Building dept(845) 294-6430

ADU FAQ — Goshen, NY

Are ADUs allowed in Goshen, NY?

Town of Goshen has 5 districts. 3 districts allow ADUs with occupancy restrictions, 2 do not. Check your address with the free ADU checker, or confirm with the building department at (845) 294-6430.

Do I need a special permit for an ADU in Goshen?

No district in Town of Goshen requires a special-use permit for an ADU - 3 districts allow ADUs with occupancy restrictions, 2 do not. Site-plan review or a building permit may still apply.

Can I use an ADU as a short-term rental in Goshen?

Short-term rentals allowed with local rules for Town of Goshen. 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.

Run the free ADU check for your parcel →

What an ADU costs to build in Goshen

Permission is one question and budget is another. An 800 sq ft accessory unit here runs roughly $205k–270k 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 Goshen, priced by size.

How we know this

Sections analyzed: 97 Attachment 5 (Use Table) · § 97-12A · § 97-84 · § 97-13
Districts confirmed: 5 of 5 — every mapped district.
Last reviewed: 2026-06-16
Not covered here: Overlay districts, the zoning map, and any conditions attached to an individual parcel. Size limits and owner-occupancy terms sit in the code section above, not in this summary.

More on Goshen: Full zoning for new construction · ADU build cost · House build cost · ADU rules across Orange County · All Orange County towns

ADU information for Town of Goshen is compiled from the municipal code (last reviewed 2026-06-16) 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 (845) 294-6430 before relying on any answer. Source: the Offsite / Aldo zoning dataset.