Warwick, RI Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Item 204 of Table 1, Warwick's zoning use table, addresses 'raising and keeping of animals and livestock' as its own category, separate from ordinary residential pet-keeping. Across every district the table lists for it, from the Open Space (OS) and low-density A-40 residence district down through the more intensive A-7, Office, Waterfront Business, General Business, Light Industrial and General Industrial districts, the use is marked 'S (5)': allowed only by special use permit granted by the zoning board of review under subsection 906, and only if the specific condition in footnote (5) is met.

That footnote requires the raising and keeping of animals and livestock to be carried out by an owner-occupant of the property, and it sets a hard acreage floor: the property must consist of a minimum of five contiguous acres in the same ownership. A backyard chicken coop or hobby livestock pen on a standard suburban lot therefore does not qualify; the applicant must both live on the property as its owner and control at least five contiguous acres before the zoning board can even consider the special use permit application.

In the Intermodal, Gateway and Village District overlays that make up City Centre Warwick, the table marks item 204 'No' outright, meaning no special use permit process is available there at all; raising or keeping livestock in those districts is prohibited regardless of acreage or ownership. Definitions elsewhere in the zoning ordinance separately exclude ordinary pet-keeping and pedigree-animal breeding from the 'kennel' category, but item 204's five-acre, owner-occupant special use permit standard is the applicable rule for livestock and animal-raising specifically.