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

The A-E zone comes from the 1983 Zoning Ordinance, the code that prints three-digit chapters in Title 17.

Section 17.012.010 states the purpose: the zone is meant for rural areas in which agriculture is and should be the desirable predominant use, and urban reserve areas can be designated agricultural exclusive as an interim land use. The same section states that the zone is not a part of the city's local coastal program implementation measures.

Section 17.012.020 permits farming in all its branches and lists illustrative uses that are not exclusive: animal breeding, pasturing or ranching; field and truck crops; orchards and groves; plant nurseries; and buildings only for occupancy or agricultural use by the owner or lessee of the land. All of them stay subject to the general provisions of Chapters 17.102, 17.105 and 17.108.

Section 17.012.030 requires a conditional use permit for stands selling products grown or produced on the premises, for public or private recreational facilities such as golf courses, tennis clubs and equestrian clubs, and for other uses deemed compatible with the A-E zone and adjacent land uses.

Section 17.012.040 sets the development standards quoted above. Chapter 17.102 adds a forty-acre minimum lot size for A-E in § 17.102.060, ten percent maximum lot coverage in § 17.102.080, a seventy-five percent minimum planting and vegetation area in § 17.102.095, and two units per lot in § 17.102.100. This page covers agricultural zoning only and quotes no right-to-farm nuisance provision.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.