Eagle Mountain, UT Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)
Key Facts
- Applies to
- Parcels zoned agriculture (AG)
- Protects against
- Nuisance claims over smells, noise, hours
- Exception
- Health or safety concern to the public
- Citation
- EMMC 17.20.030, formerly 17.20.070
Summary
Eagle Mountain protects agricultural activity in its agriculture zone from nuisance complaints. Property owners there have a recognized right to farm, and neighbors are expected to tolerate ordinary smells, noise, and odd hours tied to routine farming unless it becomes a health or safety concern.
17.20.030 Right to farm. Property owners of parcels that are zoned agriculture in Eagle Mountain City shall be deemed to have the right to conduct agricultural activities as allowed in this zone. Unless agricultural activities are creating a health or safety concern for the general public, such activities may continue without interruption in this zone. While residents residing adjacent to or near agricultural activities may experience noxious smells, noise or late and early hours of operation, such intrusions are understood to be a common element of routine and permissible agricultural activities.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance O-34-2026, passed August 4, 2026).
Full Breakdown
20, Agriculture Zone, and gives property owners of parcels zoned agriculture in Eagle Mountain City the right to conduct agricultural activities allowed in that zone. The section states that agricultural activities may continue without interruption in the zone unless they create a health or safety concern for the general public. It goes further than a bare non-interference clause by addressing the friction between farms and nearby residents directly: the code recognizes that residents living adjacent to or near agricultural activities may experience noxious smells, noise, or late and early hours of operation, and it treats those intrusions as a common and permissible element of routine agricultural activity rather than a nuisance a neighbor can shut down.
20; it does not extend right-to-farm status to agricultural activity conducted on residentially zoned property outside that zone. The provision traces back to the original 2005 development code (Ord. O-23-2005) and was carried forward, with the 2024 recodification (Ord. 070.
Violations & Fines
The right-to-farm protection is a shield, not a separate enforcement mechanism: it does not create a fine or penalty of its own, but it bars the city or a private nuisance claim from stopping ordinary agricultural noise, odor, or operating-hour complaints in the AG zone. Farming activity that rises to an actual health or safety concern for the general public falls outside the protection and can still be investigated and addressed by the planning director under the city's general Title 17 code enforcement authority in EMMC 17.15.020.E.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my neighbor's farm noise or smell in the AG zone be shut down as a nuisance?
Does the right-to-farm protection cover any health or safety issue?
Does right-to-farm apply outside the agriculture zone?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Eagle Mountain
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Farm Nuisance Protection in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Utah County handle farm nuisance protection.