Coweta County, GA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Article 7 of Coweta County's Zoning and Development Ordinance creates the RC Rural Conservation District specifically "to provide for agricultural land use, and low density single-family residential land use" in the part of the county shown as rural conservation area on the future development map. The ordinance defines agricultural land uses broadly: "farming, forestry, horticulture, wholesale plant propagation, dairying, ranching, and equestrian activities" are all recognized as the district's core purpose, not an afterthought to residential zoning.

Sec. 72 lists the specific uses allowed by right in any RC district. Item 5 permits "commercial forest, agriculture, dairy and poultry and livestock raising when located on at least 20 acres of land," with a condition attached: buildings, pens, or corrals used to house animals or fowl, or to store grain, feed, or equipment, cannot sit within 200 feet of any property line. Riding stables and academies get their own allowance under item 6 on parcels of at least ten acres, with the same 200-foot setback for any structure housing animals. Temporary portable sawmills are also allowed under item 7, kept 200 feet from property lines while operating.

Smaller-scale, non-commercial agriculture, poultry, and livestock raising as an accessory use to a single-family home is covered separately under item 4, with its own 100-foot building setback and 200-foot setback from any off-site residence, and backyard chicken keeping on lots as small as half an acre is addressed under item 12. Those accessory and hobby-scale rules sit alongside, but are legally distinct from, the by-right commercial agricultural use in item 5, which is the provision that actually zones land for farming as a business rather than as a residential accessory.