Caddo Parish, LA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Caddo Parish's Unified Development Code creates the R-A Rural Agricultural Zoning District specifically to let single-family homes exist inside the parish's working agricultural areas without displacing farming. Section 4.2.A.1 states the district's intent is to permit single-family residences within agricultural areas, but requires every home built there to stay compatible with surrounding agricultural operations and to help maintain and preserve agricultural activities; the Code adds that its regulations are structured to protect the agricultural character of the district. That protection is backed by the district's dimensional standards in Table 4-1 (UDC Section 4.2.C.1): a one-acre minimum lot area, a 150-foot minimum lot width, and a 35-foot maximum building height, all larger than the parish's in-town residential districts (the R-1-5 district, by comparison, allows lots as small as 5,000 square feet).

Building coverage in R-A tops out at 25% of the lot, the lowest coverage cap of any residential district in the Code, and impervious surface is capped at 40%. Front setbacks run 30 feet, side setbacks 15 feet, and rear setbacks 20 feet. Any land inside unincorporated Caddo Parish not shown within a mapped zoning district on the Official Zoning Map defaults to the R-A classification under UDC Section 3.2.A. The Code does not contain a separate right-to-farm nuisance-immunity statute; the protection here runs through zoning compatibility requirements and low-intensity dimensional standards rather than a shield against nuisance lawsuits.