Lincoln County, SD Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Zoned outside Canton, Harrisburg, Tea, Sioux Falls, and Lennox, the A-1 Agricultural District covers most of Lincoln County's farmland along the Big Sioux River. Section 154.055 states the district's intent is to provide for a vigorous agricultural industry by preserving agricultural lands beyond areas of planned urban development, and it discourages concentrating housing in the district because the code calls agriculture and residential subdivisions "generally poor neighbors." Section 154.056 lists what a landowner may build or operate there without a conditional use: agriculture; one single-family dwelling per quarter-quarter section if the building site is at least one acre, has approved road access, and the remainder stays agricultural; an elementary or high school; a historical site; a church; a neighborhood utility facility; an antenna support structure; and a minor home occupation under § 154.243.

A new single-family home also triggers the recorded right-to-farm covenant required by § 154.056(B)(5) before the Planning and Zoning Department will issue a building permit. Everything not on that list, from livestock sales barns and concentrated animal feeding operations to fireworks sales and gravel pits, moves to the conditional-use track under § 154.058, reviewed by the Planning Commission under the procedure and fee schedule in §§ 154.375 through 154.386. Density, area, yard, and height limits for whatever is built follow the table in § 154.062: a 1-acre minimum lot, 125-foot lot width, 30-foot front and rear yards, and a 7-foot side yard, with no height cap for farm structures or wind energy systems.