New Braunfels, TX Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Sec. 82-23
- Exempted activity
- Ag commodity production, un-manufactured state
- Location limit
- Only on the ag operation's own premises
- Underlying rule
- Sec. 82-22 fugitive dust control
- Stated fine
- None specified in this article
Summary
New Braunfels' fugitive-dust control rules for construction, grading, and land-clearing do not apply to agricultural commodity production. Section 82-23 exempts dust from raising, growing, or harvesting crops on an agricultural operation's own premises from the city's dust nuisance chapter entirely.
Sec. 82-23. - Exceptions. The requirements of sections 82-21 and 82-22 do not apply to fugitive dust emissions arising from the production of agricultural commodities in their un-manufactured state on the premises of an agricultural operation.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 36).
Full Breakdown
Sections 82-21 and 82-22 create the city's general anti-dust regime: no person may discharge "one or more dust contaminants" in concentrations likely to injure health, animal life, vegetation, or property, and anyone engaged in construction or demolition, road grading or paving, land clearing, or material stockpiling must take reasonable steps, using water or a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality-approved dust palliative, never waste oil, to keep particulate matter from becoming airborne and visible beyond the property line. " This is a specific carve-out from the dust-control article rather than a broad nuisance-immunity right-to-farm statute; it protects a working farm's plowing, harvesting, and similar dust-generating activity from the city's construction-oriented dust rules but does not shield an agricultural operation from other chapters of the code, and neither Section 82-21, 82-22, nor 82-23 states a specific dollar penalty for a dust violation, unlike the numbered fines attached to the chapter's noise and outside-storage sections.
Violations & Fines
The dust-control article itself, Sections 82-21 through 82-23, prescribes no stated fine for a violation, unlike neighboring Section 82-9's numbered noise penalties; enforcement runs through the city's general code-compliance and nuisance-abatement authority. Because Section 82-23 exempts agricultural commodity production outright, an agricultural operation generating dust from planting, cultivating, or harvesting crops on its own premises cannot be cited under Sections 82-21 or 82-22 for that activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does New Braunfels' dust ordinance apply to farms?
What dust-generating activities does the general rule cover?
Is this the same as a Texas right-to-farm nuisance law?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in New Braunfels
Texas rules heatmap·Compare New Braunfels to another location·View the Texas right to farm overview
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