Palm Coast, FL Animal Ordinances: Livestock (2026)

Palm Coast is one of Florida's largest residential planned communities, master-planned by ITT Levitt in the 1970s on a tightly-zoned grid of single-family residential, multifamily, commercial, and conservation parcels. The original ITT master plan and the City's current Land Development Code do not include an agricultural-residential category - residential lots in Palm Coast are not zoned to accommodate livestock. Chapter 8 of the City Code accordingly prohibits the keeping of cattle, horses, goats, sheep, swine, pigs, mules, donkeys, and similar 'agricultural livestock' on residential parcels inside the City limits. The December 16, 2025 ordinance adding Section 8-100 (Backyard Chickens) ONLY legalized up to four hens per permitted property - it did NOT lift the prohibition on other livestock, and roosters remain prohibited. Outside the City limits, unincorporated Flagler County (including the rural western portions of the county, the Hammock-area parcels north of the City, and the agricultural areas around Bunnell) is governed by the Flagler County Land Development Code, which provides Agricultural (AC, AC-2, AC-3, and similar) zoning districts that allow livestock-keeping subject to acreage minimums, setback requirements, and Right-to-Farm protections. The FLORIDA RIGHT TO FARM ACT (Florida Statute 823.14) is the operative state preemption: a bona fide agricultural operation that has been in operation for more than one year, on land classified as agricultural under FS 193.461 (the agricultural classification administered by the County Property Appraiser), and that conforms to FDACS Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices (GAMPs), cannot be the subject of a public or private nuisance suit based on changed conditions in or around the locality. FS 823.14 was substantially strengthened by HB 1601 of 2025 (effective July 1, 2025), which added additional protections against local government regulation of bona fide agricultural operations. None of this Right-to-Farm protection applies to residential lots inside Palm Coast city limits, because those parcels are not classified as agricultural under FS 193.461. EQUINE keeping (horses, ponies, donkeys, mules) is also prohibited inside Palm Coast city limits; legal equine facilities in Flagler County are concentrated in the unincorporated agricultural-zoned areas. POTBELLIED PIGS - the City Code does not contain a specific potbellied pig exemption, so they are treated as swine and are prohibited. Field enforcement of livestock violations inside the City is by Palm Coast Code Enforcement / Animal Control (386-986-2520), with referral to the Code Enforcement Board for daily civil penalties under Chapter 162, Florida Statutes; outside the City, the Flagler County Code Enforcement Department handles enforcement.