Boards to add agricultural use category to separate farms and stables from animal care facilities

Palos Park — The Planning Commission and Zoning Board discussed how the draft zoning code defines “animal care facilities” and directed staff to add a separate agricultural use category to avoid misclassifying farms and equestrian stables as commercial animal‑care businesses.

Staff said the animal‑care‑facility definition in the draft was intended to cover grooming, boarding and day‑care services for pets, not larger agricultural operations or farms where livestock graze or stables host horses. A written comment read into the record noted the potential impact on a local property with farm animals and asked that the code not unintentionally restrict those uses.

Outcome: Boards asked staff to add a distinct agricultural use that would permit farms, horse stables and associated accessory recreation in the Open Space district and to permit such uses as special uses in R‑1 (single family) so standards can be added for scale and location. Staff said existing large uses that are lawfully established would be grandfathered and that standards would be drafted to differentiate the two categories.

Why it matters: The change removes ambiguity so that owner‑operators of farms and equestrian uses are not treated like commercial pet‑care businesses and so the village can create specific standards for setbacks, animal containment and odor/noise controls where appropriate.

Next steps: Staff to add an agricultural use line in the use table, draft appropriate standards for the scale and operation of farms and stables (likely permitted in Open Space and special‑use in R‑1), and include grandfathering language for existing lawful operations.