Alachua County, FL Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

46 of the ULDC lets a veterinary clinic or hospital operate as a limited use, reviewed administratively rather than needing a public hearing, in eleven zoning districts: A-RB, AP, BP, BR, BR-1, BH, BA, BA-1, BW, MS, and MP, plus in the county's traditional neighborhood and transit-oriented developments (TODs). In the Agriculture (A) district, the same use instead requires a special exception, meaning a public hearing and a vote of the Board of County Commissioners rather than administrative sign-off. Two boarding-specific standards apply once a clinic keeps animals overnight or outdoors.

First, any facility that provides boarding must be housed in a structure that is 'completely enclosed and designed to suppress noise', language that ties directly into the county's noise ordinance in Chapter 110. Second, if the clinic uses outdoor areas for the animals, those areas must be fenced or walled to contain the animals, may only be provided on a lot of at least two acres, and must sit a minimum of 50 feet from the nearest residential zoning district line. The ordinance history runs from the original adoption in Ord.

No. 05-10 (Dec. 2005) through amendments in 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2012, with a final codification update in Ord. No. 2020-25 (Nov. 2020). 46 is a ULDC zoning standard, it governs siting and site design only, it does not replace the state veterinary-practice licensing the Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine separately requires for the clinic's veterinarians.