Milpitas, CA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Chapter XIII-B.18 of the Milpitas Municipal Code establishes the Agricultural (A) Zone, and Section B.18.010 states that the zone 'is intended to preserve lands best suited for agricultural use from the encroachment of incompatible uses, and to preserve land for eventual development into other uses, pending proper timing for the economical provision of utilities, major streets, and other facilities.' Table B.18.020-A permits cultivated agriculture, animal husbandry, guest ranches, and riding academies and public stables outright in the A zone, while agricultural supply sales and commercial agricultural processing plants require a Conditional Use Permit.

Single-family dwellings and residential care facilities are allowed only as accessory to a primary agricultural use. Table B.18.030-A sets the A zone's dimensional standards: a five-acre minimum lot area, 300-foot minimum lot width, a 0.4 dwelling-unit-per-gross-acre density cap, 50-foot setbacks on the front, both sides, and rear, and a 30-foot, 2.5-story maximum building height for both primary and accessory structures. Any area annexed into Milpitas is automatically classified Agricultural with the Site and Architectural Overlay under Section B.2.040 unless it falls within the designated Hillside Area, which defaults instead to single-family hillside zoning.

The Municipal Code does not contain a stand-alone right-to-farm ordinance granting agricultural operations nuisance immunity; the closest protection Milpitas offers is the Agricultural zoning district itself, which limits competing residential and commercial development around working farmland through the lot size and setback standards above.