Commercial poultry operations will no longer be allowed in residential or general business zoning districts in Accomack County.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to bar the practice.
Such operations had been allow in those areas after getting a special use permit.
The planning department asked the board to act after an application to build four poultry houses on over 200-acres in Horntown located near a residential area.
Concern over the rise in the number of chicken houses has grown over the years.
The paper reports that the county planning department said there were plans for 100 new poultry house in the county in 2015.