Avondale generally restricts large livestock - horses, cattle, goats, sheep, swine - to properties where zoning allows. The Avondale Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 28) permits a shelter for keeping animals in the Agricultural (AG) district. Backyard chickens are handled separately (up to 6 hens, no roosters). Confirm lot-specific livestock allowances with Community Development.
Avondale treats large livestock as a zoning question. The Avondale Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 28) governs which districts permit animal keeping; in the Agricultural (AG) district, a shelter for the keeping of animals is an allowed structure on a residential lot, indicating that horses, cattle, and similar livestock are tied to agricultural/large-lot zoning rather than standard residential subdivisions. Typical suburban single-family lots in Avondale are not zoned to keep horses, cattle, goats, sheep, or swine, and those animals are allowed only where the zoning district and minimum lot-size standards permit. The backyard-fowl exception is separate: under Ordinance 2026-1225 (tracking Arizona HB 2325), a single-family detached home may keep up to six hens (no roosters) with the coop in the rear or side yard. Specific minimum lot sizes, animal-count ratios, and setback distances for horses and other livestock are set in the Zoning Ordinance and are not fully reproduced here, so owners should confirm exact requirements for their parcel with the Avondale Community Development Department. Animal nuisance, noise, and at-large issues for any livestock are also addressed under City Code Chapter 3 (Animals and Fowl) and enforced by Animal Control.
Keeping horses, cattle, goats, sheep, or swine on a lot not zoned for them, or exceeding zoning animal limits or setbacks, is a zoning violation enforceable by Avondale Community Development and code enforcement. Livestock running at large or creating a nuisance may also be cited under City Code Chapter 3.
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