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

Zoning Ordinance § 5.1 states that AR-1, Agricultural Residential 1, 'is designed to preserve the county's rural character while protecting natural resources and supporting both active and passive recreational uses,' emphasizing 'land conservation and resource protection, minimal pedestrian activity, ample open space, and a high degree of separation between structures.' The district's dimensional table backs that intent with rural-scale numbers: a minimum lot area of five acres, up to two residential units per lot (either two principal dwellings or one principal dwelling plus one accessory dwelling unit), a 100-foot minimum road frontage, a 150-foot minimum lot width at the building line, a 50-foot front yard, a 50-foot rear yard, a 25-foot interior side yard, and a 40-foot maximum building height.

The table adds a footnote that carries real weight for working farms: 'Accessory structures used for agricultural purposes are exempt from the height restrictions outlined in this ordinance,' so a grain silo, hay barn or equipment shed in AR-1 does not have to fit under the district's 40-foot cap the way a house or garage does. Land already used as a mobile-rental-home site before September 23, 1980, is grandfathered to continue that use. The Table of Permitted Uses (§ 4.1A) reinforces the farming focus of the district, listing commercial agricultural crop and livestock production, agritourism, plant nurseries and apiaries as permitted by right in AR-1, the widest agricultural allowance the table gives any zone in the county.