Colorado Springs, CO Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

UDC Section 7.2.201.A creates the A: Agricultural zone district, describing it as land that accommodates large lot residential development and agricultural purposes on lands that are, in most cases, on the periphery of the City limits but may become more urban in the future. The section states that the types, size, and intensity of permitted uses encourages and protects agricultural uses until urban development occurs, and notes the district may serve as a holding zone for future development of recently annexed properties -- meaning agricultural use is the interim, protected use rather than something phased out immediately on annexation.

The district's dimensional standards, set out in Table 7.2.2-A, require a minimum lot area of five acres per single-family detached dwelling unit and a minimum lot width of 200 feet, both far larger than any other residential district in the city, which keeps agricultural parcels from being crowded by smaller urban lots. Setbacks run 25 feet from the front, 10 feet on the side, 20 feet on a corner lot's side street, and 35 feet from the rear, with a maximum building height of 35 feet. Front-yard carports on A-zoned lots must additionally comply with Subsection 7.3.304C (Carport or Garage, Accessory).

The A district does not stand alone as a right-to-farm statute -- the code has no separate nuisance-immunity provision for agricultural operations -- but the zone district's purpose clause and its oversized lot and setback standards function as the city's agricultural land-use protection, keeping farm and large-lot residential uses viable at the urban edge until a property is formally rezoned for denser development.