Aliso Viejo, CA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

AVMC 6.04.380 is a flat prohibition with one narrow exception. No person in the City of Aliso Viejo can keep or maintain horses, cows, goats, sheep, other equine, bovine, ovine or ruminant animals, pigs, predatory wild animals, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, game birds or other fowl, or animals which normally constitute agricultural uses, for any purpose. The words "for any purpose" reach pets as well as farm use, and AVMC 6.02.010 repeats the same list in its definition of livestock. The section prints no flock size, coop setback or rooster rule, because the only path it describes is approval of hens through a conditional use permit as part of a small-scale farm.

A conditional use permit is a discretionary approval. AVMC 15.74.040 says uses needing one carry moderate to significant potential for adverse impacts on surrounding properties, residents or businesses, and it gives kennels and animal shelters as examples. The decision-making authority must find the use consistent with the general plan and any applicable specific plan, and conforming to the zoning code's permitted use provisions and development standards.

Livestock that gets loose is handled in Article VI. AVMC 6.04.340 forbids letting an animal other than a cat or dog, livestock included, be staked, graze or be upon another person's land without the owner's written consent, or upon public lands or highways, or run at large. Under AVMC 6.04.350 the director can seize and impound the animal and hold a lien for the costs of seizing, keeping and caring for it. If no one claims it within five days, or the claimant does not pay those expenses, the director sells it at public sale, except a bovine. An unclaimed animal valued at less than $20.00 can be sold privately after three days. Separately, AVMC 6.04.250 lets the director take into custody any animal kept contrary to the code. A livestock show needs a business license under AVMC 4.01.020, as the cross-reference after the section notes.