Gainesville, FL Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Sec. 1 defines "personal service" as "a service use primarily engaged in providing services involving the care of a person, his or her apparel, pets, or small appliances," naming barbershops, beauty shops, exercise studios, funeral homes, pet grooming, appliance repair, laundromats and health clubs as examples. " That distinction controls where a groomer can open. Table V-1 in Sec. 12 lists "personal services" as permitted by right (P) in transects U4, U6, U7, U8, U9 and downtown (DT), and not allowed at all in U1, U2, U3 and U5, the code's lowest-intensity, most residential transects; "pet services" does not appear as its own line in Table V-1 at all.

A separate use table, Table V-9 in Sec. 23, governs the city's special districts (Agriculture, Airport, Conservation, Educational, Medical and Public Services) and lists "pet services" as permitted by right only in the Agriculture (AGR), Airport (AF) and Public Services (PS) districts, not in Conservation, Educational or Medical districts. So a boarding kennel, dog pound or veterinary clinic is not a listed use in the ordinary U1 through DT transects where most commercial grooming shops would locate; only the personal-service classification, and its transect-by-transect table, governs a stand-alone pet grooming business.

The transect system in Sec. 11 replaces conventional residential and commercial zoning districts with a street-type classification running from the lowest-intensity U1 through the most urban U9 and downtown DT, so a pet grooming shop's legality at a given address turns on which transect the parcel sits in.