Bergenfield, NJ Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Chapter 186, Land Development, treats a veterinary practice as a conditional use rather than a use permitted by right, listing it among other conditional uses such as gas stations, animal clinics and kennels, hospitals and hotels. Section 186-78 imposes four specific requirements. First, all veterinary activities, meaning examinations, treatment, boarding or any related operation, must occur entirely within an enclosed building; there is no allowance for outdoor treatment or holding areas at the veterinarian's own conditional-use standard, distinguishing it from the separate animal-clinic-and-kennel use at § 186-70, which does permit fenced outdoor kennels subject to noise and odor controls.

Second, the practice must obtain a permit from the Borough of Bergenfield's Board of Health before opening, independent of any state veterinary licensing. Third, off-street parking, required buffer strips and any signage must conform to the general standards set at §§ 186-44 (buffer strips), 186-48 (signs) and 186-49 (parking) elsewhere in the same chapter, meaning a veterinary applicant cannot rely on § 186-78 alone but must cross-check those sections for numeric requirements. Fourth, any other requirement of the particular zoning district in which the practice sits, and that is not otherwise addressed in § 186-78 itself, still applies; the section supplements rather than replaces the underlying zone's dimensional and use standards.

Because veterinary use is conditional, an applicant proceeds through the Planning Board's conditional-use and site plan review process under § 186-82 rather than obtaining an as-of-right building permit.