Newport Beach, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Newport Beach's zoning code treats animal grooming as a distinct land use category under Chapter 20.48 (Standards for Specific Land Uses), separate from animal boarding/kennels and veterinary hospitals. Section 20.48.050(B) requires a grooming facility to be entirely enclosed, soundproofed, and air-conditioned, and it flatly prohibits boarding animals, maintaining outside runs or cages, keeping outside trash containers, or generating offensive odors. The same section treats grooming differently depending on context: a stand-alone grooming shop must meet the enclosed/soundproofed/air-conditioned standard on its own, while grooming performed incidental to a veterinary hospital (Section 20.48.050(D)) or incidental to an animal retail sales establishment (Section 20.48.050(C)) is allowed as an accessory activity within those businesses' own enclosure requirements.

Before opening, an operator must confirm whether the applicable zoning district's land use table calls for a minor use permit (MUP) or conditional use permit (CUP), since Table 2-5 (Commercial District Land Uses) assigns different permit levels to Animal Grooming depending on the specific commercial or mixed-use district. The permit review authority evaluates noise containment, odor control, and enclosure adequacy as part of that discretionary approval. Grooming of dogs, cats, and other small animals that does not rise to the level of boarding is exempt from the separate Animal-Keeping standards of Section 20.48.040, which instead govern private residential animal-keeping setbacks and enclosures.