Lynchburg, VA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

2 establish the Conservation (R-C) district for very low-intensity development on environmentally sensitive land such as stream valleys and steep slopes, and its authorized-use table lists vegetable farming, commercial orchards, greenhouses and "Animal Production" as by-right uses, cross-referencing the district's own animal standards. 3(a) supplies those standards: raising cattle, goats, horses or other large farm animals, and keeping five or more poultry or game animals, is permitted only on lots of ten acres or more. Any structure built to house or feed those animals must sit at least 200 feet from any street or lot line, and the provision expressly excludes commercial poultry farms and hog farms from the allowance, even on qualifying acreage.

Livestock and poultry must also be kept within secure enclosures and can't be allowed to roam at large. The same subsection lets the R-C district's farm markets sell only what's actually grown or produced on that property, and separate district development standards impose a 50-foot minimum setback on all sides of R-C buildings along with a height formula tied to distance from the property line. 7, which apply to much smaller residential lots and don't carry the ten-acre agricultural-use threshold that defines R-C.