Imperial County Beekeeping Regulations

Beekeeping permitted in the A-3 (Heavy Agriculture) Zone

• Under California Food and Agricultural Code section 29201, the agricultural commissioner or their representative has the authority to perform an inspection on any apiary located within their jurisdiction. 8.40.022

Beekeeping is prohibited or declared a nuisance here. Read the linked section for scope and any exceptions before keeping bees.

• Sec. 4.2. - Keeping cattle, swine, goats, bees, etc., prohibited; exceptions. — see the section for scope and exceptions. Sec. 4.2.

The animals code makes it unlawful to keep bees anywhere within the city limits, and a violation is a misdemeanour. The zoning code separately permits apiaries and beehives in the A, OS and RR districts. Nothing in either provision refers to the other, and the conflict is unresolved.

Hive limit: The zoning tables distinguish one to three hives from four or more, but the animals code prohibits bees outright, so no hive count can be relied on until the city says which provision it enforces.

Note: Calexico is the hardest card in this collection to give you a clean answer on, and the honest position is that the city code contradicts itself. The animals chapter says it is unlawful to keep bees anywhere within the city limits, full stop, with no exception for any zoning district, and a violation is a misdemeanour as well as a public nuisance the city can abate. The zoning code, in three separate use tables, permits apiaries and beehives: in the agricultural zone, in open space, and in the RR rural residential zone, where one to three hives are permitted and four or more need a conditional use permit. Neither provision mentions the other. There is no clause saying the zoning tables override the animals chapter, and none saying the animals chapter overrides the zoning tables. There is a strong argument that the animals chapter is simply an old provision nobody reconciled when the zoning code was written, because on its face it also bans chickens, rabbits, ducks and cattle everywhere in the city, which would leave Calexico with an agricultural zone in which keeping a cow is a crime. That cannot be what was meant. But we are not going to tell you to rely on that argument, because the provision that carries the criminal penalty is the one prohibiting bees, and being right in principle is poor comfort if you are the person cited. So treat this as prohibited until the city tells you otherwise, and if you want to keep bees here, take both section numbers to them, § 6.08.050(D) and whichever zoning table covers your parcel, and ask in writing which one they enforce. Keep the reply.

• It is unlawful to keep or maintain any horse, cow, steer, bull, calf, swine, sheep, goat, rabbit, mules, bees, chickens, pigeons, geese, ducks or other fowl or poultry within the city limits. No exception for any zoning district is written into this subsection. 6.08.050(D)
• A violation is a misdemeanour and also constitutes a public nuisance which may be abated by civil proceeding. 6.08.050(E)
• The use table marks an apiary as permitted, the keeping of one to three beehives as permitted, and the keeping of four or more beehives as conditional. 17.09.420
• The use table marks the keeping of beehives as permitted. 17.09.520
• The use table marks the keeping of one to three beehives as permitted and four or more as conditional. In the R-1, RC, RA and R-2 zones the same rows are marked X. The key explaining that mark was not captured, so its meaning is not stated here. 17.03.110

Apiaries are named as a permitted accessory structure to farming and animal keeping, so the earlier claim that El Centro has no apiary rule was not correct.

Hive limit: No hive count is set, and no beekeeping-specific standards were found beyond the accessory structure listing.

Note: El Centro does mention apiaries, contrary to what this card used to say. They appear in the zoning definitions as one of the structures you may have as an accessory to farming and animal keeping, in the same list as barns, stables, coops and greenhouses. What that gives you is a starting point rather than a complete answer, because the permission is attached to land already being farmed, and the code does not attach hive numbers, setbacks or a permit to apiaries specifically. So the question for the planning counter is whether your parcel qualifies as farming and animal keeping land under that definition. One thing to ignore: if you search El Centro's code for bees, the most frequent hits by far are in the required landscaping tables, where rosemary and kurapia are annotated "Flowers attract bees". That is advice to landscapers about planting, not a rule about keeping hives.

• Uses and structures incidental and accessory to farming and animal keeping are permitted, including one single-family residence per lot, barns, stables, pens, coops, greenhouses, apiaries, and small grain and produce storage buildings under 10,000 square feet. 29-16

Keeping bees in Holtville is unlawful. The code bars keeping any animal or bees except as the chapter provides, and the chapter never provides for bees.

Note: Read in full in 2026 and published as a prohibition, with the reasoning shown because the rule is inferred rather than quoted. No sentence in Holtville's code says "beekeeping is prohibited". What it says is that keeping any animal OR BEES is unlawful except as the chapter provides, and the chapter goes on to permit only rabbits, hamsters, poultry and fowl, three dogs and three cats. Bees are never permitted. The separate naming looks deliberate: the chapter's own definition of "animal" does not include bees, which is why the prohibition has to list them on their own. The rest of the municipal code, zoning Title 17 included, contains no reference to bees, apiaries, hives or colonies at all. The ordinance dates from 1961 and 1973, so if you intend to keep bees here, confirm the city's current position with City Hall before relying on either reading.

• It is unlawful to keep or maintain any animal or bees within the city limits except as provided in this chapter. 7.12.020
• The chapter authorises rabbits, hamsters, chickens, pigeons, geese, ducks and other fowl or poultry, plus up to three dogs and three cats. Bees are not authorised anywhere in it. 7.12.030, 7.12.070, 7.12.080
• The chapter defines "animal" as any horse, mule, sheep, goat, cow, hog, poultry, fowl, rabbit, wild or exotic animal and all other animals except dogs and cats. Bees are not within that definition, which is why § 7.12.020 names them separately. 7.12.060(A)

No local beekeeping rule found in the municipal code. State registration with the county agricultural commissioner still applies.

Note: Partly read in 2026 and deliberately still marked unverified. The City of Imperial publishes its code as separate chapter PDFs. Chapter 4, Animal Control, and Chapter 14, Abatement of Nuisances, were both read in full and contain no reference to bees, hives, apiaries or beekeeping. What cannot be checked is Chapter 24, Zoning, which is a single page stating that the Zoning Ordinance is not printed in the code and is held on file at the City Planning Department. That matters more than it might sound: in city after city the beekeeping standards sit in the zoning code rather than the animals chapter, so the unpublished part is exactly where a rule would be. Treat this as UNKNOWN rather than as "no rules", and ask the City Planning Department for the zoning provisions on animal keeping. Note this card is the CITY of Imperial; Imperial County is a separate entry.

Note: The zoning ordinance was read in full in 2026, and the card it replaces contradicted itself: it claimed a permit requirement for bee hives and no beekeeping rules at all, in the same sentence. Both statements were half right. The only bee provisions in this ordinance govern STORAGE OF EMPTY HIVES AND EQUIPMENT, which is a warehousing use rather than beekeeping. Storage needs a Conditional Use Permit in the commercial zone and is allowed outright in the industrial zone. The word "apiary" does not appear anywhere in the 42-page ordinance, and Westmorland has no agricultural zone at all, only residential, commercial, industrial and open space. A search of the city's wider published material turned up nothing further on bees. So Westmorland regulates where you may warehouse hive equipment, and says nothing at all about keeping live bees.

• Storage of empty bee hives and equipment pertaining to bees is a conditional use, requiring a Conditional Use Permit under § 5.02. 3.05(c)(ix)
• Storage of empty bee hives and equipment pertaining to bees is a permitted use, with no permit required. 3.06(b)(iv)