Bessemer, AL Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

' Permitted uses by right are limited to a single-family dwelling and the raising of crops, plants, flowers and trees; a long list of other uses, including mobile home parks, riding academies, commercial livestock feed yards and roadside stands for produce grown on the same lot, are allowed only on review by the Board of Zoning Adjustment. Subsection (2)(w) is the operative animal-keeping rule, and it applies only in A-1: horses, cows, sheep and goats must be housed at least 150 feet from any residential or business use other than the owner's own residence, with a minimum of 15,000 square feet of lot area per animal.

Fowl, rabbits and other small animals need only 100 feet of separation, but the lot must provide at least 7,000 square feet for every 20 animals. Table 2 sets the district's dimensional envelope at a five-acre minimum lot, a 150-foot lot width, 40-foot front and rear yards, a 25-foot side yard, 10 percent maximum ground coverage and a 45-foot height cap. This ordinance does not contain a separate right-to-farm nuisance-immunity statute; the A-1 district itself is the mechanism the city uses to zone land for agricultural use inside its limits.