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

Montebello Municipal Code Section 17.12.020 lists the uses permitted in the R-A zone, whose purpose section, 17.12.010, ties the district to land best suited for agriculture and to single-family residential development, including use as a transitional classification for open or agricultural land pending a more permanent designation. Section 17.12.020's principal use is a single-family detached dwelling, but its accessory-use list is where the zone's agricultural character shows up: item 2 permits horsekeeping under Chapter 17.68 of the code, item 3 permits animal keeping under the same chapter, and item 5 permits noncommercial horticulture and agriculture, including the sorting, processing and packing of crops and stock grown on the same lot.

A property owner in the R-A zone can also keep up to three household pets under item 4, and any accessory structures beyond storage rooms, bathhouses or cabanas, including a detached accessory dwelling unit, must meet the design standards in Section 17.10.280. The R-A designation is Montebello's only zoning district that expressly authorizes crop growing, stock raising and horsekeeping as an accessory use, distinguishing it from the R-1 through R-4 residential zones, which do not carry this agricultural accessory-use list. Because these uses are accessory rather than principal, they must remain secondary to the single-family dwelling on the lot, and any commercial-scale farming operation would fall outside this by-right authorization and require separate zoning review.