Shafter Zoning Code § 10.270 Right to Farm Provisions

1. Intent

It is the intent of this section to conserve, protect, and encourage the development, improvement, and continued viability of agricultural land and industries for the long-term production of food and other agricultural products; support the economic well-being of the City’s residents; balance the rights of farmers to produce food and other agricultural products with the rights of non-

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farmers who own, occupy, or use land within or adjacent to agricultural areas; and reduce the loss to the City of its agricultural resources by limiting the circumstances under which agricultural operations may be deemed to constitute a nuisance.

Applicability

All agricultural activities, operations, facilities, or appurtenances thereof shall comply with the provisions of this Chapter and to the applicable provisions of the zone district in which the land use is located.

3. Protection from Nuisance

   • a. No agricultural activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof shall be, or become a nuisance if the following standards are met:

     • (1) The agricultural use is conducted or maintained for commercial purposes; and

     • (2) The agricultural use is conducted in a manner consistent with proper and accepted customs and standards as established and followed by similar agricultural operations in the same locality; and

     • (3) The agricultural use has been in operation for more than three (3) years and was not a nuisance at the time it began.

   • b. This section shall not invalidate any provision contained in the Government Code of the State of California associated with agricultural activities, if such activities, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof, constitutes a nuisance, public or private, as specifically defined or described in any such provision.

   • c. This Section is not to be construed to modify or abridge State law, as set out in the California Civil Code relative to nuisances, but rather to be utilized in the interpretation and enforcement of the provisions of City ordinances and regulations.

4. Notice to Buyers of Land

The Planning Director shall cause the following notice to be included on any proposed land division that lies partly or wholly within or within 300 feet of any land zoned for primarily agricultural purposes:

• a. Lot(s) No. _____, as shown on this map, is (are) located partly or wholly within, or within 300 feet of land zoned for primarily agricultural purposes by the City of Shafter. It is the declared policy of the City of Shafter that no agricultural activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof, conducted or maintained for commercial purposes within the City of Shafter and conducted in a manner consistent with proper and accepted customs and standards as established and followed by similar agricultural operations in the same

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locality shall be or become a nuisance, private or public, due to any changed condition in or about the locality, after the same has been in operation for more than three (3) years, if it was not a nuisance at the time it began. The term “agricultural activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof” includes, but is not limited to: the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural commodity, including agriculture, horticulture, the raising of livestock, fur bearing animals, fish or poultry; and any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market, or to carriers for transportation to market.

• b. The City Engineer shall cause the notice described in subsection (a) to be included on any final land division proposed for recordation that lies partly or wholly within, or within 300 feet of any land zoned for agricultural purposes.