Cochise County Board of Adjustment approves two variances allowing reduced horse-corral setbacks and smaller lots with conditions

The Cochise County Board of Adjustment approved two separate variances on Monday permitting reduced setbacks for horse corrals and placing conditions on animal care.

The board approved docket BAR25-03, an applicant-initiated variance for property at 1421 North Cemetery Road (Joseph Valentine, applicant), reducing the required 50-foot setback for a corral and corral shade structure along the south and west property lines (the staff recommendation reduced the south setback to 0 feet and the west setback to about 5 feet). The board also approved docket BAR25-04, for property at 10193 South Rainbow Ranch Road (Rhonda Jo Wilson, applicant), reducing the minimum lot area required to keep horses from 36,000 square feet to 23,522 square feet and allowing reduced corral setbacks along multiple property lines with a 7.5-foot setback for a shade structure along the east and west lines. Staff recommended both approvals with conditions including regular cleaning to limit odors and flies and a limit of no more than two horses on each property.

Why it matters: The two dockets highlight tensions common in rural Cochise County between long-established residential and hobby-livestock uses and county setback rules adopted in 1975. The board's decisions allow current owners to keep horses where they have been located on lots that are difficult to conform to setback rules while adding animal-welfare and nuisance-control conditions that staff said would reduce impacts to neighbors.

Staff presentation and public comment

Matt Sherman, county planner, presented both staff reports and described…