Building permits in the Town of Oyster Bay

Unincorporated Town or one of its villages

Oyster Bay's Department of Planning and Development enforces the building and zoning codes "in unincorporated areas" and supervises the issuance of construction permits. The Town also prints a list of 19 incorporated villages: Amityville, Bayville, Brookville, Centre Island, Cove Neck, Farmingdale, Lattingtown, Laurel Hollow, Massapequa Park, Matinecock, Mill Neck, Muttontown, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, Oyster Bay Cove, Roslyn Harbor, Sea Cliff, Upper Brookville and Westbury. It marks Amityville, Old Westbury, Roslyn Harbor and Westbury as only partly inside the Town.

None of the Town pages we read say who handles permits inside those villages. If your address is in one, call the village hall before anything else and ask which office reviews the job. Our list of village and city offices can help.

Paper forms, the annex and the portal

• At the counter. Building permit applications are available at the Building Division, 74 Audrey Avenue in Oyster Bay, and at its annex in Town Hall South, 977 Hicksville Road in Massapequa.
• From the website. The application and the Town's other forms can be downloaded.
• Online. The Building Division Portal lets registrants and contractors submit and track common fast order, or instant, permits. Property owners must register an account first. New contractors and registered design professionals email a New Contractor Registration, with their insurance documents, to the department.

However you file, the Town says every permit needs, at a minimum, a complete, signed and notarized Application for Permit-to-Build-or-Install, plus a notarized Applicant Disclosure Affidavit from the applicant, the homeowner and all contractors. Each permit type has its own submittal checklist, and the Town warns that incomplete or missing documents delay the review.

Work on Oyster Bay's permit list

The Town says the types of projects that generally require permits include, but are not limited to, the following:

Jobs the online portal takes

The portal's list of permits you can apply for online includes fences more than four feet and no more than six feet high, generators, fire pits, hot tubs, hot water heaters, in-ground lawn sprinkler systems, outdoor kitchens, solar panels and swimming pool heaters. Pools are on it too, with their barriers and any related pool heaters. A Town release dated July 30, 2026 says the portal now includes residential pools without other structures, apart from required fencing.

For new construction, the Town says applications generally must include a copy of the survey and two copies of the building construction plan.

The Residential Code Analysis Worksheet

Except for same day and fast order permits, an application needs the Town's Residential Code Analysis Worksheet, effective December 31, 2025 and revised in February 2026. The worksheet must be fully completed before the application is processed. Its building permit scope section must be completed, signed and sealed by a New York State licensed professional, and it requires a seal and signature on all plans, certificates, calculations, reports and specifications. It lists:

• Two recent surveys by a licensed surveyor, plus a plot site plan affidavit if the survey is more than six months old
• Two construction sets, and three sets for a Zoning Board of Appeals rejection
• Two sets of truss drawings
• Three sets of civil drawings for site work

Flood zones and older work on the lot

The Town takes part in the National Flood Insurance Program, which lets owners in its designated Special Flood Hazard Areas buy flood insurance, and its Planning and Development page says FEMA is updating the maps. In a FEMA flood zone other than Zone X, any substantial improvement or repair needs a signed and sealed appraisal of the dwelling's market value, not counting the land, from a New York State licensed appraiser, submitted when you file.

The worksheet also warns that a building permit or certificate of occupancy may be delayed until every existing item on the property that needs a Town permit is filed to be maintained under the proper permit. Older work without permits can hold up a new job.

Certificates of occupancy in Oyster Bay

The Building Division issues certificates of occupancy, and it also regulates the maximum occupancy of places of public assembly. The pages we read do not lay out the inspections that lead to a certificate, so ask the division what your job needs at the end.

When zoning says no: the Oyster Bay ZBA

The Zoning Board of Appeals is an autonomous, quasi-judicial body that issues variances and exemptions from the zoning ordinances where strict conformity would cause unnecessary hardship, after public hearings. It has a chairman, a vice chairman and five members, all appointed by the Town Board for five-year terms, and it generally meets twice a month.

1. 1FileOffice staff process the application and schedule a public hearing.
2. 2Notify the neighborsYou send a notice to the surrounding property owners and post a sign on the property.
3. 3DecisionAfter an approval, you go to the Building Division for the permit. After a denial, you can appeal in a higher court with an Article 78 filing within 30 days of the date the decision is filed with the Town Clerk's office.

Two fee schedules, one question

The Planning and Development page links a 2025 schedule of fees, while the portal page links an older schedule and calls it the current one, and the two print different amounts for the first $1,000 of valuation. Until the Town settles which applies, confirm your fee with the Building Division before you file.

Licenses, the right-of-way and Town email

• The Planning and Development page lets you find out whether your electrician is licensed by the Town, and the portal gives (516) 624-6217 for the paperwork to apply for a Town of Oyster Bay license.
• Work in the Town right-of-way takes a separate homeowner permit; the Town says to get the original by calling its Highway Division at (516) 677-5884.
• The Town asks residents to make sure every message from it comes from a .gov email address.
• Nassau County's licensing of home improvement businesses is mandated by Section 21-11 of its Administrative Code. See how to check a Nassau County license.

Settle these before filing in Oyster Bay

On the free call, pin down whether the house is in the unincorporated Town or a village, whether the job fits the portal or needs the worksheet and sealed plans, and whether anything already on the lot was built without a permit. Then ask each contractor who will file, and confirm each one is ready with the notarized disclosure affidavit the Town wants from every contractor on the application.