Fort Worth, TX Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

142, part of the zoning ordinance's supplemental use standards, treats veterinary clinics differently depending on which district they sit in. In a commercial district, a clinic including a dog and cat hospital and any associated indoor kennel has to be conducted wholly within a completely enclosed, sound-proofed and air-conditioned building, and no animals may be kept outside that building at any time, whether for boarding, exercise or overflow. Noise and odors generated inside the building can't be perceptible beyond the property line, a standard that gives Code Compliance a direct, objective trigger for a complaint-based inspection rather than a subjective nuisance call.

In an industrial district, the calculus flips: outdoor kennels are permitted, but no animal hospital or kennel can be sited within 100 feet of any residential use. The 100-foot measurement runs in a straight line, ignoring intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of a residentially-zoned property line or premises used for residential purposes to the nearest portion of the kennel or hospital itself. Both tracks trace to Ord. 13896, passed October 12, 1999, with the industrial-district provisions added by Ord. 17093, § 3, passed August 8, 2006.

The use is permitted under the Chapter 4, Articles 6 and 8 use tables subject to these conditions, meaning a clinic still has to confirm the base district allows a veterinary use before these standards even apply.