Little Valley is the part of St. George where people still keep horses inside the city limits, and it is also where buyers get surprised most often after they close. The surprises come from three things a listing photo cannot show: what the zoning on that lot allows, whether the subdivision carries a homeowners association, and how close the lot sits to the St. George Regional Airport. Here is what I check before writing an offer there, with the code sections so you can read them yourself.
Where Little Valley actually is, and why no two listings agree
Little Valley has no legal boundary. It is a place name left over from the farming ground southeast of town, not an incorporated area and not a recorded subdivision, which is why one listing calls a house Little Valley and the house two streets over gets called something else. The landmarks people navigate by sit on Horseman Park Drive: Little Valley Elementary at 2330 East, and the Little Valley Pickleball Complex at 2149 East, which the City of St. George lists at 33 courts. The city's pickleball page carries the schedule and the court count. Development runs from there south and east toward the airport mesa.
What governs your purchase is the recorded subdivision plat and the zoning district on that one parcel, not the neighborhood name, and both are address-specific. Treat a Little Valley label as a general direction, then look up the two documents that control what you can build, park and keep there.
The zoning is the reason people move here
Little Valley sits in St. George's large-lot zones rather than the standard city residential ones, which is where the horse property and the oversized garages come from. The city's 2019 planning commission notice for the Ranches at Little Valley, on 3670 South Street west of Bentley Road, describes that site as RE-37.5 requesting a rezone to A-1, and notes the surrounding A-1 zoning and a Rural Residential general plan designation.
| Zone | Minimum lot area | Minimum lot width | Animals allowed | Code section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-1 Agricultural | 40,000 square feet | 100 feet | Up to 12 animals per acre, and A-1 is the one agricultural zone where the code does not provide for going above that | 10-5-1, 10-5-3 |
| RE-37.5 | 37,500 square feet | 80 feet | 1 animal per 12,000 square feet, 2 per 20,000, 1 more for each additional 10,000 over 20,000 | 10-7A-1, 10-7A-3 |
| RE-20 | 20,000 square feet | 80 feet | Same formula as RE-37.5 | 10-7A-1, 10-7A-3 |
| RE-12.5 | 12,500 square feet | 80 feet | Same formula as RE-37.5 | 10-7A-1, 10-7A-3 |
All four require a 20-foot front and street-side setback and 10-foot side and rear setbacks. Every figure above was read October 1, 2026 from the St. George City Code as published through Ordinance 2026-068, passed August 20, 2026. The Residential Estate zones are chapter 10-7A and the agricultural zones are chapter 10-5. Chapter 10-7A is published in full on the city code site. Chapter 10-5 is published there too.
Do the arithmetic before you fall in love with a place. A half-acre lot of 21,780 square feet supports two animals rather than three, because the third does not arrive until 30,000 square feet. Barns and corrals have to sit at least 100 feet from any dwelling in RE-12.5 through RE-37.5, and on a long narrow lot that setback is usually the binding constraint rather than the animal count. Chickens run on a separate rule, capped at 16 animals per lot and 10 rabbits, with one rooster per 37,500 square feet.
The airport is the thing nobody mentions until after closing
St. George Regional Airport sits on the mesa at 4550 South Airport Parkway, immediately south of the Little Valley area, and the city has an entire zoning chapter about building near it. Two pieces of it reach ordinary residential buyers. Inside the mapped traffic pattern area the code prohibits residential uses outright, along with schools, hospitals and RV parks, under sections 10-10-2.E and 10-10-2.F. Where development is allowed, section 10-10-2.D requires disclosure on the plat, on permits and in the county title records that there is noise associated with aircraft overflights, and it requires granting the city an avigation easement conveying the right of overflight. The runway protection zone is defined as 2,000 feet from each runway end and 1,000 feet wide. The chapter is St. George City Code Title 10, Chapter 10, Airport Vicinity Zones. The city publishes that chapter in full on its code site.
What the code cannot tell you is whether one particular lot falls inside one of those mapped areas, and I will not guess that off a map image. That is a question for the city's planning counter, and it is worth the call before you write on anything along the south or east edge. Ask whether the parcel carries an avigation easement and whether the plat has the overflight disclosure on it. Both turn up in title work, and both read easier before you are under contract.
Schools and HOAs: the two checks worth doing early
Washington County School District assigns by primary residence and splits the grades four ways, which catches almost every family moving here from out of state. Elementary is kindergarten through fifth, intermediate is sixth and seventh, middle school is eighth and ninth, and high school is tenth through twelfth. The neighborhood elementary is Little Valley Elementary at 2330 East Horseman Park Drive, office number 435-652-4771. The district publishes a boundary map for each of those four levels with an address search built in. Elementary lines here have moved more than once as new subdivisions filled in, so check the current map against the exact address rather than against what a neighbor remembers. All four maps sit on the district's boundaries and routes page. Washington County School District publishes them on its boundaries and routes page.
Homeowners associations are the other address-specific question, and the neighborhood name tells you nothing here. Little Valley is dozens of separately recorded subdivisions platted by different developers, with no association over the top of them. Some plats carry a declaration with dues and architectural review, some carry nothing. Ask for the declaration, the current dues and the budget in writing, and read all three before your due diligence deadline runs out, because Utah's standard contract makes earnest money non-refundable after that deadline except in narrow circumstances.
Current Little Valley listings sit on my neighborhood page, and the monthly market summary carries the countywide median sale price and days on market.
- Little Valley homes for sale
- St. George market summary
- St. George homes for sale
- St. George schools and boundaries
- How school boundaries and open enrollment work
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you keep horses in Little Valley, St. George?
Yes, on most Little Valley lots, as long as the zoning district and the lot size support it. In the Residential Estate zones the St. George City Code allows one animal per 12,000 square feet, two at 20,000, and one more for each additional 10,000 above that, with barns and corrals set back at least 100 feet from any dwelling in RE-12.5 through RE-37.5. In the A-1 agricultural zone the allowance is up to 12 animals per acre. Confirm the district for the exact address with St. George planning.
Is Little Valley inside the St. George city limits?
Yes. City zoning, animal rules, building permits and city utility service all apply in Little Valley rather than Washington County's. The city's general plan carries much of the area as Rural Residential, which is why the zoning runs to larger lots and more permissive animal rules than most of town, and why the airport vicinity rules in Title 10, Chapter 10 reach the parts nearest the runway.
What school do Little Valley students attend?
The neighborhood elementary is Little Valley Elementary at 2330 East Horseman Park Drive, kindergarten through fifth grade, phone 435-652-4771. Washington County School District assigns by primary residence and uses four levels rather than three: elementary for kindergarten through fifth, intermediate for sixth and seventh, middle school for eighth and ninth, and high school for tenth through twelfth. Check the district's current map against the specific address, because the elementary lines here have been redrawn as new subdivisions filled in.
Do homes in Little Valley have an HOA?
Some do and some do not, and you cannot tell from the neighborhood name. Little Valley is dozens of separately recorded subdivisions with no association covering the area as a whole, so it depends on the declaration recorded against that plat with the Washington County Recorder. Ask the seller for the recorded declaration, the current dues and the association budget in writing, and read them before your due diligence deadline passes.
Want the zoning and plat pulled on a specific address?
If you are looking at something in Little Valley and want to know what the lot allows before you write, call or text me at 435-200-5508. I will pull the zoning district, the plat and the declaration if there is one.