Olympia, WA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

The Olympia Municipal Code, adopted by the Olympia City Council in Thurston County, treats a veterinary clinic as its own use rather than folding it into ordinary offices. The definition of Office, Veterinary/Clinic in OMC 18.02.180 describes a place where animals are given medical care and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care incidental to the hospital use. That limit separates a clinic from a Kennel, which the same section defines as any site where four or more dogs, cats, or other small animals over the age of four months are kept, including places where animals are boarded, kept for sale, or hire. The older Animal Hospital definition, which allows accessory kennel use and boarding for compensation, is cross-referenced from the clinic definition.

The operative use standard sits in OMC 18.06.060, the commercial districts' use standards. Item II covers Veterinary Clinic and Office, Veterinary Clinic in the Downtown Business (DB), Medical Services (MS), High Density Corridor-1 (HDC-1), and Professional Office/Residential Multifamily District (PO/RM). In those four districts animals shall be kept indoors except for very brief periods of time as necessary for the animal's health. In practice that rules out outdoor runs, exercise yards and daytime kennel pens in those districts.

The permitted and conditional use tables in the Unified Development Code also carry a Veterinary Offices and Clinics row. The table cells mark the use P (permitted) in some district columns and C (conditional) in others, so the district column that applies to the lot decides whether a conditional use permit is needed. The light industrial chapter, OMC 18.08.060, lists Veterinary Clinics among its permitted light industrial land uses, and the table row for existing clinics refers back to OMC 18.04.060(J).

Residential districts are closed to this use as a home business. OMC 18.04.060(L) says the following types of uses are not permitted as home occupations: Veterinarian, medical, and dental offices and clinics. A veterinarian cannot run a practice out of a house in the City of Olympia under a home occupation permit. Pet grooming and obedience training fall under Personal Services, and that definition states it does not include Medical Offices, Kennels or Veterinary Clinics, so a groomer who adds treatment or boarding moves into a different use category.