Newton, MA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Sec. 37 of Chapter 30's Commercial Uses article regulates veterinary hospitals. The permitted-use table for the Business, Mixed Use & Manufacturing districts lists veterinary hospitals as allowed by right (P) in Business 1, Business 2, Business 3, Business 4, and Mixed Use 2; requiring a special permit from the City Council (SP) in Mixed Use 1 and Mixed Use 4; and not allowed at all (--) in Business 5, Mixed Use 3, Manufacturing, and Limited Manufacturing. Sec. B then layers a use-specific condition onto the two districts most likely to see a stand-alone clinic: in the Mixed Use 4 district, a veterinary hospital is allowed by special permit, 'but may not have overnight boarding not related to medical care,' and in the Business 4 district, where the use is allowed by right, a veterinary hospital 'may not have overnight boarding not related to medical care' either.

In effect, Newton treats routine medical stays as part of the veterinary use itself but treats a boarding kennel or overnight pet-sitting operation as a separate use that a veterinary hospital cannot fold into its by-right or special-permit approval in those two districts. The definition clause at Sec. A is marked '[reserved],' so any dispute over whether a use qualifies as a veterinary hospital is resolved by the Commissioner of Inspectional Services under the general use-determination authority in Sec. 1.