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

Highlands County's zoning code treats veterinary uses differently district by district. F as a special exception: the Board of Adjustment must approve it after a public hearing and can attach conditions and safeguards, the same process used for churches, day care facilities and other uses the county considers more intensive than a typical office tenant. The O district's other standards then apply to an approved clinic: a 100-foot minimum lot frontage, 12,000-square-foot minimum lot area, 25-foot front and rear yards, ten-foot side yards, a 15-foot corner setback, and a 30-foot height limit.

By contrast, the B-1 neighborhood business district and the B-2 limited business district both list animal hospitals and veterinary clinics among prohibited uses, so a clinic of any kind cannot locate in those districts even with a special exception. The B-3 general business district takes the opposite approach, permitting a veterinarian, animal hospital or boarding kennel outright as a principal use alongside other service establishments like pest control agencies and repair garages, without needing Board of Adjustment approval. A veterinary practice looking to add boarding or grooming to a Highlands County location therefore has to be in a B-3-zoned property, since the O district's special exception is capped at treatment only and B-1/B-2 exclude the use altogether.