Building permits in the Town of Huntington

Four villages handle their own permits

For properties in Huntington's incorporated villages, Asharoken, Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor and Northport, the Town says the permit function is handled by the village building officials. For the rest of the Town, the Building and Housing Division in Town Hall, Room 115, is the office, and it takes questions by email at BuildingInfo@HuntingtonNY.gov.

Huntington's permit rule, structure by structure

The Town's rule is broad: a building permit is required to build, alter, move, repair, modify or demolish any building or structure, in whole or in part, or to change its use. Its residential list runs from additions, alterations, arbors and awnings to cellar entrances, chicken coops, chimneys, finished basements, fireplaces and stoves, garages, gazebos, pergolas, pools, porches, regrading, satellite dishes, sheds, solar and trellises. Some items carry a size:

Sheds: two answers in one article

The Town's shed article, updated April 7, 2026, says one shed of 144 square feet or less, no more than 12 and a half feet high and at least 2 feet from the property line, needs no building permit. The same article also says a second shed of any size, and all sheds over 100 square feet, need one. Treat a shed between 100 and 144 square feet as a question for Building and Housing before you buy it.

The article adds that sheds over 144 square feet must be set back at least 5 feet from the property line, that sheds up to 120 square feet do not need footings, and that no accessory structure may sit in the required or existing front yard or long street side yard setback, whichever is greater. A shed filing takes two application forms signed by the owner and notarized, and four copies each of a recent unaltered survey, a plot plan showing the setbacks, and construction drawings at a scale of at least a quarter inch to the foot.

Filing: portal, mail or Room 115

The pages differ here as well. The deck and fence pages say applications and payments for permits and certificates of occupancy must be submitted on the Town's portal, www.buildingpermitapp.com. The shed article says they can be sent by express or regular mail, or dropped off in person at Building and Housing in Room 115. Ask the division which route it accepts for your job before you send anything.

For alterations and additions, a 2022 Town article lists two completed Form 87-01 applications, signed by the owner (not a tenant) and notarized, three recent complete surveys by a licensed land surveyor, a recent tax bill showing section, block and lot, and three sets of construction drawings at no less than a quarter inch to the foot. When the work goes beyond the limits in Section 7302 of the state Education Law, the drawings need the seal and signature of a licensed architect or professional engineer.

The deck page lists its own set: a notarized property owner affidavit, recent complete surveys, a plot plan, construction drawings, photos of current conditions inside and out, and a copy of the front and back of a Suffolk County Home Improvement License photo ID card. For new work, the Town says that photo ID is not needed to file but is required to obtain the permit, and the workers' compensation certificate must list the Town of Huntington as certificate holder, with the photo ID holder's name on it.

Adding a potential sleeping room to a home that is not on the sewer system needs a Suffolk County Department of Health approved application or receipt, with an R number, in the application packet.

Built without a permit: the BWO rule

The Town will not issue a certificate of occupancy for a project while there are expired permits, or structures or changes built without a permit, which it calls BWO. It names the usual ones: basements, garages and porches turned into living space, and cellar entrances, walls, bathrooms, decks, porches, pools, sheds and retaining walls added or removed without a permit. All of them must be legalized with permits.

A new permit application is processed as long as no structural changes or detached structures are found to have been built without a permit. New work needs a final survey before the certificate is issued, and the Town's forms include a Letter in Lieu of Certificate of Occupancy application, Form 87-07.

Accessory apartments and rental permits

• An accessory dwelling unit permit is required in an owner-occupied single-family home, whether the unit is for family, for rent or for the owner.
• Since July 16, 2019, the Accessory Dwelling Unit Bureau has not accepted basement, cellar or attic apartment applications.
• An accessory apartment permit can pass to the buyer of the property if the buyer completes the bureau's filing within 90 days of the transfer of title.
• Rented one- and two-family homes, condos, townhouses and other rental buildings that are not owner occupied need a rental permit, except homes with a legal accessory apartment permit. Both the rental permit office and the bureau are in Town Hall, Room 205, at (631) 351-3009.

Wetlands, flood maps and the waterfront

Development on property near a freshwater wetland is reviewed once an application is made to Building and Housing, and the Town says the owner may need a Freshwater Wetland Permit from the state DEC before that application is accepted. Maritime Services keeps a list of wetlands and adjacent properties within 100 feet, indexed by Suffolk County tax map number. For flood plain boundary questions about insuring a property, the Town points owners to Maritime Services at (631) 351-3192 or Engineering Services at (631) 351-3120.

On the water, the Town calls its Marine Conservation Permit essentially a building permit for the waterfront. It generally takes at least three Town Board meetings, between three and six months or more.

The Zoning Board of Appeals in Huntington

The Town describes a variance as a discretionary action by the Zoning Board of Appeals that grants relief from the use and bulk rules of the zoning code to the extent needed for reasonable use of the land, and it may be granted only after a public hearing. Area variances, such as a front yard variance to build a porch or a side yard variance to legalize a garage built without a permit too close to the line, are the most common application. Once an application is complete and accepted, the hearing can take two to three months to schedule. Fees are in Town Code Chapter A204, and the board answers at (631) 351-3123 or ZBA@HuntingtonNY.gov.

Huntington application fees

Under Section 87-23 of the Town Code, the minimum residential application fee is $100, plus $7 for each $1,000 of estimated construction cost or fraction of it. No permit is issued or released until the fees are paid to the Department of Engineering Services. If construction, installation or a change of use starts or finishes before the Town issues the permit, the application fee is three times the normal amount.

Huntington points to settle on the call

Settle Town or village first, then the two questions the Town's pages leave open: the shed threshold, and whether your application goes on the portal or on paper. Ask each contractor for the Suffolk County photo ID and a workers' compensation certificate naming the Town, since the Town requires them to obtain the permit, and who will file. Suffolk County Consumer Affairs verifies licenses at (631) 853-4600, and our guide explains how to check a Suffolk County license.