Apple Valley, MN Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

The agricultural district in the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances opens with a short permitted-use list in § 155.020. No structure or land can be used except for the listed uses or uses deemed similar by the City Council. The list covers all types of agricultural pursuits including the keeping, raising or production of livestock and accessory farm residences; commercial greenhouses and nurseries; stands for the sale of agricultural products provided the products are at least in part raised on the premises; a one-family detached dwelling meeting the standards of the Uniform Building Code, placed on permanent foundation and having no horizontal axis less than 18 feet in length; and public parks and playgrounds.

The farm stand condition is a real limit. A stand can sell agricultural products only if at least part of what it sells is raised on the premises, so a roadside stand resold entirely from off-site does not fit the permitted use.

Section 155.021 adds conditional uses, which need a conditional use permit from the City Council. They include riding stables, boarding stables, ski hills and similar uses, and any conditional use in the R single-family districts as listed in § 155.052. That cross-reference brings in off-street parking for passenger vehicles, cemeteries, unlicensed day care homes, accessory unit dwellings and wireless facilities as the R-district list describes them.

Section 155.022 handles accessory uses by borrowing the single-family list: any accessory use permitted in the R single-family districts under § 155.053 is permitted in the agricultural district.

The zoning definition of farm in § 155.003 sets the size test: a parcel of land having an area of ten acres or more, or five acres for truck farms, which is under cultivation or is fenced and utilized as pasture. Horticulture is defined there as the production and storage of fruits and vegetables. The City Council, not staff, decides whether an unlisted activity is similar to a listed use.