Murrieta, CA Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Section 16.18.040(B), "Relationship to Nuisance," within the Equestrian and Agriculture Preservation chapter, protects properties that kept horses or livestock in areas that allowed animal-keeping "at the time of adoption of this development code," giving them "the right to maintain the animals in the same manner not withstanding health and safety issues." The same subsection puts the burden of separation on newcomers: "New development shall bear the responsibility for providing appropriate buffers or setbacks between the existing development and the new development." It then states the core right-to-farm rule: "No agricultural or livestock use shall become a nuisance to adjacent land uses, when the use was not a nuisance at the time it was established." Subsection B.2 clarifies this doesn't rewrite state nuisance law generally; it applies "only... in the interpretation and enforcement of the provisions of this development code." The surrounding section also requires disclosure: subdividers within five hundred feet of agricultural land must record a CC&R or acknowledgment statement warning buyers of dust, odor, noise and chemical exposure from nearby farming, and anyone building a new occupied structure within that same 500-foot buffer must sign a similar statement before the city issues a building permit.