Tempe, AZ Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Table 3-202A, adopted under Section 3-202, lists a "Clinic (medical, dental, veterinary (small animals))" as a Permitted (P) use, meaning no public hearing, in all six of Tempe's commercial and mixed-use categories: Residential/Office, Commercial Shopping and Services, City Center, both Planned Commercial Center classes, and Regional Commercial Center. The same table treats an "Animal Kennel" very differently: it is Not Permitted (N) in the Residential/Office district and requires a discretionary Use Permit (U) in every other commercial or mixed-use district, so boarding, grooming with overnight stays, or breeding draws a public hearing that a walk-in veterinary practice never faces.

In Tempe's office/industrial districts, Table 3-302A permits "Clinics: Medical, Dental and Veterinary" outright (P) in the Light Industrial, General Industrial and Heavy Industrial districts alike, while "Animal Kennels, and Animal Hospitals" are Not Permitted in Light Industrial but Permitted in the General and Heavy Industrial districts. In the city's MU-1 through MU-4 mixed-use districts a veterinary clinic is likewise Permitted by right, though it drops to a Use Permit in the university-only MU-Ed district.

Parking rides on the same distinction in intensity: Table 4-603E of Section 4-603 sets the off-street parking ratio for a medical, dental or veterinary clinic at one space per 150 square feet of floor area, the same intensive ratio applied to a bar or nightclub, reflecting steady walk-in client traffic rather than long-term boarding.