Hemet, CA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Section 90-183 governs permitted and conditionally permitted uses in Hemet's two agriculture zones: A-1 (light agricultural, one-acre minimum lot) and A-2 (heavy agricultural, five-acre minimum, ten acres for A-2-10 parcels). Under the matrix's 'E. Service Uses, 1. Animal Services' category, day-only boarding and training is permitted outright (P) in both A-1 and A-2, overnight boarding and training and grooming are administratively permitted (A) in A-2 but require an administrative permit in A-1, and a veterinary clinic or animal hospital is listed as conditionally permitted (C) in both A-1 and A-2, meaning it needs a discretionary conditional use permit rather than a ministerial building permit.

Any use not specifically listed in the matrix is interpreted as not permitted unless the community development director makes a similar-use determination under § 90-3. By contrast, the Commercial Zones Land Use Matrix at § 90-893 lists a veterinary clinic or animal hospital as permitted (P) by right in all four commercial zone columns, alongside grooming and training, while only a boarding kennel for dogs and cats needs a conditional use permit and only in the most intensive commercial zone. A veterinary practice in an agriculture zone also sits alongside the separate animal-keeping matrix at § 90-77, which governs how many animals a property may keep and requires that pens, coops, or barns stay at least 50 feet from a residentially zoned property line; a veterinary clinic's own animal-holding areas would need to satisfy those same keeping standards in addition to the CUP conditions imposed on the clinic use itself. Uses within the Hemet-Ryan Airport Influence Area are additionally subject to the Riverside County Airport Land Use Plan.