Valencia County, NM Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Code § 154.121(B)(8) places veterinary hospitals with outdoor facilities on the list of uses permitted outright in the Community Commercial (C-2) District, alongside shopping centers, hotels, taverns, farm equipment sales, greenhouses and gas stations. Because it is a permitted rather than a conditional use, the county does not require a Type B conditional-use hearing before a veterinary hospital with outdoor kennels or runs can open in a C-2 zone; the applicant instead goes through the site design review process in §§ 154.035 through 154.040 that the introductory text of § 154.121(B) applies to every permitted use in the district.

The C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District's own permitted- and conditional-use lists at § 154.120(B) and (C) do not include a veterinary use at all, so a full-service animal hospital with outdoor facilities has to locate in C-2 rather than C-1. Any accessory fencing around outdoor kennel runs still has to meet the C-2 clear-vision-area standard borrowed from § 154.120(F)(8) under § 154.121(B)(14), and any accompanying dwelling for an on-site caretaker would fall under the separate 'dwelling in conjunction with a commercial use' provision at § 154.121(B)(13).