Amarillo, TX Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Section 4-10-64 of the Amarillo Code of Ordinances automatically classifies all territory annexed into the City as 'A' Agricultural District, the same designation used among the eighteen other conventional zoning districts listed in section 4-10-61. That classification holds until the City Council goes through the standard rezoning procedure to establish a different district for the annexed area. Section 4-10-63(b) applies the identical default to any parcel where a boundary dispute or mapping gap makes it unclear how a property is zoned: absent evidence resolving the question under the boundary-interpretation rules, the property is treated as Agricultural District too.

While land carries the Agricultural District classification, subsection (b) restricts what the Building Official may permit: no person may erect, construct, or add to a building or structure in the newly annexed area without first obtaining a building permit or certificate of occupancy and compliance, and the Building Official cannot issue any permit for construction, modification, or land use other than one the Agricultural District itself allows. In practice, this means a landowner who annexes into Amarillo cannot assume an existing commercial or industrial use is automatically carried into a matching zoning category; the property functions under agricultural-district use limits until the City Council formally rezones it, following the same public-hearing procedure required for any other zoning change under State law.