York County, VA Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

York County's zoning standards for animal hospitals, veterinary clinics, and commercial kennels turn on distance from housing. Sec. 24.1-416(a) requires that any such use located within two hundred feet of a residential property line be conducted entirely inside a completely enclosed building, and that building has to be adequately soundproofed and constructed so that no odor or noise detrimental to other properties or uses escapes the site. Sec. 24.1-416(b) requires all animals on the premises, not just those in the enclosed building, to be kept in pens or other enclosures designed and maintained for secure confinement, so patients and boarded animals can't wander onto adjoining land.

Sec. 24.1-416(c) adds a paperwork gate before any of these uses can open: the operator must submit a waste management plan that ensures sanitary handling of animal wastes and prevents contamination or pollution of adjacent lands or water bodies, and the zoning administrator has to review and approve that plan first. The code treats a plain private kennel more leniently by comparison: Sec. 24.1-417 sets only a 50-foot setback for runs or pens at a private kennel with no commercial veterinary component, screened and buffered from neighboring properties, a lighter standard than the 200-foot enclosed-building trigger that applies once a use becomes a commercial animal hospital, clinic, or kennel operation.