15343 Higginsport Rd, Bernard, IA 52032

Agricultural Residential District

The A-2 Agricultural Residential District is a floating zone intended to allow very limited residential use in primarily agricultural areas of the County. It is intended to preserve as much farmland for agricultural use as possible, without creating a precedence for future residential subdivisions. It provides a means for splitting off an existing farm home with a minimal amount of land, to sell or to separate from the farmland for financing or other purposes, and also to allow a new home on a small lot, if it is needed to continue or promote farming operations in the area. The A-2 district should be minimized to include mainly the ground where the home, farm buildings, well, septic system, driveway and yard areas are on the parcel. The home may be platted off, but no additional homes will be allowed on either the home lot or the balance of the parcel s being surveyed unless rezoned for that use. The purpose of this district is to preserve valuable farmland, to preserve the value of existing housing stock in the rural areas, and to provide options for people to live in the rural areas of the County, but not to create subdivisions. That would require the property to be rezoned to an R Residential district. The A-2 district also allows summer cottages to be placed in non-farmed areas of the county.