Brookhaven, GA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Section 27-621 of the Brookhaven Code opens by describing animal service as uses that provide goods and services for care of animals, and it lists three specific use types: boarding, grooming and veterinary. Grooming covers the grooming of companion animals, including dog bathing and clipping salons and pet grooming shops. The one operating restriction printed in the grooming definition concerns outdoor space. No outside animal runs or kennels are allowed unless the shop is located in a zoning district that permits boarding, and in that case the regulations that apply to animal boarding shall be met.

Those boarding regulations carry a setback. Under the boarding definition in the same section, any building or structure in which animals are kept or exercised must be set back at least 100 feet from any R-zoned lot. A groomer in a boarding district that adds outside runs therefore takes on that distance from residential lots.

Subsection (2) sets a development standard that applies to every animal service use, groomers included. Each one must provide an animal waste management plan showing that animal waste is properly discharged under chapter 25 of the Code and in compliance with all applicable state and federal regulations. The plan is reviewed during the permitting process, so it has to be ready before the City of Brookhaven signs off on the business.

Grooming cannot be run out of a house. Section 27-700(d)(9) lists animal care, grooming or boarding businesses among the uses expressly prohibited as home occupations, so a groomer who works from a residence in the City of Brookhaven has no home occupation route. The use has to be located where the zoning code allows animal service uses. Which districts allow the use is set outside § 27-621, which this page covers only for its supplemental rules. The section was last amended by Ord. No. Z2024-04-03 on April 25, 2024.