Lew,
I called the Dept. Of Agriculture And Markets in Albany last week about ag. buildings being exempt from the building permit process. The man was very clear that the policy in N.Y. as far as the state is concerned is that "We do not advocate the exemption of the permit process based on an agricultural status" He continued that individual municipalities may or may not require a permit for an ag. use structure. I could, however, file for a tax exemption which would require me to genenerate $10000 gross sales per year. My local assessor told me that would automatically turn my property into a commercial tax rate which would be about triple the taxes per year. The man in Albany said that isn't right. So basically all the rules are through the king that sits on your local thrown in the assessor's office. There isn't just a blanket state rule or anything in the Constitution. Other states have it covered under their "Right To Farm" law, but not here. The tax exempt law is very clear, but the exemption from permits is real fuzzy because it's left up to the discretion of the local municipality. I'll be applying for my permit this week I guess. I've had enough of the bureaucracy, but I'm sure there's more coming.