Alexandria, VA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Article II of the zoning ordinance defines 'Animal care facility' at Sec. 2-110 as 'a place where common household pets are cared for, such as a grooming, training, and temporary boarding facilities, veterinary/animal hospitals, but not including businesses that meet the definition of animal shelter,' and separately defines 'Veterinary/animal hospital' at Sec. 2-201.2 as an animal care facility that provides preventative care or treats illness, injury, or disease. That second definition folds every vet clinic in the city into the broader animal care facility use category for permitting purposes.

How a clinic is regulated then splits on one fact: overnight accommodation. Sec. 2-183.1 lists an 'animal care facility with no overnight accommodation' as an example of a 'personal service' use, and personal services are permitted by right in commercial zones such as CL/Commercial Low (Sec. 4-102(H)). A clinic that keeps patients overnight is treated differently. In the CL zone, Sec. 4-102.1(A) allows an 'animal care facility with overnight accommodation if located in a commercial complex' only through administrative special use approval under Sec. 11-513; anywhere else in the CL zone it needs a full special use permit under Sec. 4-103(A), which requires City Council review under the criteria in Sec. 11-500. The same overnight-accommodation trigger and administrative-approval-versus-permit split repeats, zone by zone, at Secs. 4-302.1, 4-402.1, 4-502.1, 4-602.1, 4-702.1, 4-802.1 and 4-902.1 across the city's other commercial and industrial zones. Sec. 4-104 makes clear any use not on a zone's permitted, special, or accessory use list is prohibited outright, so a boarding-capable vet hospital cannot simply open in a zone that omits it.