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

Dothan's zoning code creates a dedicated Agricultural-Conservation (A-C) district under City Code § 114-116, and § 114-117(a) spells out that farming is meant to coexist with the low-density housing the district also allows. The section requires a minimum one-acre lot for a stand-alone, site-built house in the A-C district, or 15,000 square feet if the home sits in an approved subdivision, keeping residential density low enough that farm operations are not crowded out. The same section then addresses the friction point directly: agricultural activity is authorized as a use by-right, meaning Planning and Development must approve it without discretionary review even where a neighbor's residential use makes farming look incompatible, and the code states it is not the intention of the chapter to restrict agricultural activities because of residential uses in the immediate area.

The Table of Permitted Accessory and Agricultural Uses at § 114-131.1 backs this up on the ground: general farming and horticulture, roadside produce stands, livestock and poultry raising as a primary use, forestry, and livestock auctions are all marked 'P' for permitted in the A-C district, several barred from platted residential subdivisions under table footnote 1. A farmer in A-C zoning does not need a special exception or board of zoning adjustment hearing to keep the operation running; that protection only holds inside the A-C district boundary and does not extend to R-1 through R-4, where nearly all agricultural uses on the same table are left blank and therefore prohibited.