Lakewood, NJ Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

UDO § 18-902A, Agricultural (A-1), establishes the township's farm-zone permitted uses: single-family detached dwellings, farmhouses and associated dwellings, and customary and conventional agricultural uses except raising hogs and goats. On-premises processing or sale of agricultural products grown or raised there is allowed, including slaughtering poultry, though no other type of abattoir is permitted. Places of worship are permitted subject to § 18-905, and public or private schools subject to § 18-906. Conditional uses under Article X include public buildings of a governmental or cultural nature (excluding warehouses and workshops), golf courses of at least nine holes with a minimum 100-yard tee-to-green distance, public utility installations without a storage yard or commercial office space, and hospitals and clinics.

Accessory uses cover private garages, sheds, greenhouses, private pools, and home occupations, which are capped at two non-household employees, one client on-site at a time, 25% of the dwelling's floor area, no outdoor storage or display, and one extra parking space if a non-resident is employed. The district's Design Regulations for all permitted uses except places of worship require a minimum lot area of two acres, minimum lot width of 200 feet, a 50-foot front yard setback, a 20-foot rear yard setback, and a 15-foot side yard setback with a 40-foot aggregate, plus a 25% maximum building coverage and a 35-foot maximum building height; accessory buildings get reduced 10-foot side and rear setbacks.

A separate conditional-use section, UDO § 18-1002, Agricultural Uses and Stables, layers on further standards for keeping horses: a six-acre minimum lot, a 100-foot setback from all property lines, one off-street parking space per stabled horse for a commercial stable, and a livestock density cap of one adult horse or cattle, or two adult sheep or goats, per acre exclusive of one acre reserved for residential use; commercial kennels are prohibited outright.