Marin County Beekeeping Regulations

Breeding and raising bees is among the uses in the coastal agricultural and resource-related districts. The code also names a Beekeeping Agricultural Production and Stewardship Plan, and requires a fire permit to use a smoker in a hazardous fire area.

Hive limit: No hive count is set in the provisions we read.

Note: In unincorporated Marin, breeding and raising bees is one of the uses named in the coastal agricultural and resource-related districts, so the county does contemplate beekeeping rather than ignoring it. Two things deserve a direct question to the county before you rely on this card. The first is a document the code names but does not explain in the part we read: a Beekeeping Agricultural Production and Stewardship Plan. No other California code in this collection has anything like it, and we cannot tell you whether it applies to a few hives in a garden or only to a commercial operation, so ask. The second is easy to miss because of where it lives. If your land is in a hazardous fire area, using a smoker counts as using lighted or smouldering material, and that needs an operational permit from the Fire Code Official. It is in the fire title, not the zoning or animal title, and it applies to a routine inspection on a summer afternoon. Marin also expressly excepts the honey-producing bee from its venomous animal definition, so that rule is not a route to challenge a hive.

• The breeding and raising of bees, fish, poultry and other fowl is among the listed uses. 20.62.060
• The definitions of specialized terms name a Beekeeping Agricultural Production and Stewardship Plan (APSP) and include the breeding and raising of bees within the defined agricultural use. 20.130.030, 22.130.030
• Lighted or smouldering material may not be used in connection with smoking bees in or upon hazardous fire areas except by permit from the Fire Code Official. 16.16.060
• The honey-producing bee is expressly excepted from the definition of a wild or undomesticated animal that is venomous to human beings. 8.04.183
• Apiculture is within the definition of an agricultural commodity for the right-to-farm chapter. 23.03.020

Beekeeping is regulated here as part of the defined use class Agriculture, under the term bee culture. Crucially, bee culture sits in the half of the definition that applies whether or not the activity is for profit, so a hobby beekeeper is conducting Agriculture while a hobby vegetable grower is not.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit naming bees exists. Any limit comes from wherever the Agriculture use class is allowed and on what terms.

Note: Belvedere has no beekeeping ordinance, and searching for one will not get you far: every beekeeping term we know to try returns exactly one section of the code, the definition of Agriculture. But that definition matters more than it looks, because of which half of it beekeeping sits in. The code splits Agriculture in two. One half covers tilling, crops, horticulture, orcharding, nurseries and greenhouses, and it only counts as Agriculture when done FOR PROFIT. The other half covers bee culture, along with dairying, poultry raising and animal husbandry, and it applies WHETHER OR NOT there is any profit in it. So the practical consequence is sharp: your neighbour growing vegetables for the kitchen is not conducting Agriculture under this code, and you keeping two hives for your own honey is. That puts you inside whatever the zoning code does with the Agriculture use class, while the gardener stays outside it. Your question is therefore not what the code says about bees, it is where Agriculture is a permitted use and on what terms. Take § 19.08.040 to the planning counter and ask exactly that. Given how small and tightly built Belvedere is, do not assume the answer is yes, and get it in writing. California still requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner.

• Agriculture includes bee culture, dairying, poultry raising, animal husbandry and the operation of stables, slaughterhouses, fertilizer plants, boneyards, animal reduction plants, kennels and animal hospitals — and this subsection applies WHETHER OR NOT the activity is conducted for profit. 19.08.040(B)
• The other half of the definition, covering tilling, crops, horticulture, floriculture, viniculture, orcharding, farming, nurseries, truck gardens and greenhouses, applies only to activities conducted FOR PROFIT. Bee culture is deliberately not in that half. 19.08.040(A)

A conditional use permit is required in every zoning district, so this is a discretionary process rather than a form. Two hives on a parcel under half an acre and four on half an acre or more. Twenty feet from an occupied dwelling on an adjacent residential parcel and twenty feet from a public street or a public pedestrian or bicycle trail, a six foot flyway barrier towards any abutting residential parcel, and water dedicated solely to the colony at all times.

Hive limit: Two hives on parcels under half an acre, four on parcels of half an acre and over, set at § 18.21.030. The number is also a finding the zoning administrator has to make before granting the permit, so it is a cap rather than a starting point for negotiation.

Note: The word permit is doing a lot of work here, so start with what kind. Corte Madera requires a conditional use permit in every zoning district, filed with the planning department with a fee and decided by the zoning administrator under Ch. 18.26. That is a discretionary process, and if it goes against you the appeal is to the planning commission, whose decision is final. Neighbouring Tiburon reaches a similar result through a permit its code calls ministerial, decided without a hearing, which is a very different experience of the same idea. Plan for the hearing, not the form. The standards themselves are reasonable for a suburban garden. Two hives if your parcel is under half an acre, four if it is half an acre or more. Keep hive boxes at least twenty feet from an occupied dwelling on an adjacent residential parcel and at least twenty feet from a public street or a public pedestrian or bicycle trail, which in this town is often the tighter of the two. Because a hive box counts as an accessory structure, the ordinary building location, setback and lot coverage rules for your district apply to it as well, so check those before you site anything. Install a flyway barrier at least six feet high, a solid wall, a fence or dense vegetation, between the colony and any abutting parcel in a residential district. Provide water dedicated solely to the colony and keep it available at all times. The chapter is written for non-commercial keeping, so a selling operation is outside what it provides for. One more provision sits outside the zoning code entirely: Corte Madera adopts the 2025 Wildland Urban Interface Code at § 15.04.040, and item 13 of its amendments requires a permit from the Fire Code Official before you use lighted or smouldering material to smoke bees in a hazardous fire area.

• Apply for a conditional use permit with the planning department, with the filing fee, before keeping bees on a parcel in any zoning district. The zoning administrator decides it under Ch. 18.26 and must find that the hive count and the operational standards below are met. § 18.21.020
• Keep no more than two hives on a parcel under half an acre, or four hives on a parcel of half an acre or more. § 18.21.030
• Hive boxes must meet the building location, setback and lot coverage standards for an accessory structure in your district, and must stand at least twenty feet from an occupied dwelling on an adjacent residential parcel. § 18.21.040(a)
• Keep hive boxes at least twenty feet from a public street, or from a public pedestrian or bicycle trail. § 18.21.040(b)
• Provide a convenient and adequate source of water dedicated solely to the colony, available at all times. § 18.21.040(c)
• Install a flyway barrier at least six feet high, a solid wall, a fence or dense vegetation, between the colony and any abutting parcel in a residential district. § 18.21.040(d)
• The chapter provides for non-commercial keeping of honey bees only, and requires best management practices that keep the bees healthy without adverse effects on surrounding properties. §§ 18.21.010, 18.21.040(e)
• A refusal by the zoning administrator can be appealed to the planning commission, whose decision is final. § 18.21.090
• In a hazardous fire area, do not use lighted or smouldering material in connection with smoking bees without a permit from the Fire Code Official. § 15.04.040, WUI amendments item 13, Apiaries

Fairfax sets no hive count, setback or permit for keeping bees. It has one beekeeping rule and it is in the fire code: in a hazardous fire area you need a permit from the Fire Code Official before using lighted or smouldering material to smoke bees.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit for keeping bees. The only provision is the fire code smoker permit.

Note: Nothing in Fairfax tells you how many hives you may keep or where to site them, so use your judgement and talk to your neighbours first. The one rule that exists is easy to miss because of where it sits. Fairfax adopts the 2025 California Wildland Urban Interface Code and adds § A104.13, headed Apiaries: lighted or smouldering material may not be used in connection with smoking bees in or upon a hazardous fire area except by permit from the Fire Code Official. In plain terms, if your apiary is in a hazardous fire area you need the fire department's permission before you light a smoker, and Marin is largely wildland urban interface, so assume the question applies until the town tells you otherwise. Ask before the season starts rather than during it. One thing not to be misled by: the code also exempts small aerosol sprays used against stinging insects from pesticide notification requirements. That provision mentions bees but imposes nothing on beekeeping. California still requires apiary registration with the Marin County agricultural commissioner.

• In a hazardous fire area, do not use lighted or smouldering material in connection with smoking bees without a permit from the Fire Code Official. § 8.06.011, WUI § A104.13 Apiaries

No beekeeping ordinance, but one real duty in the fire code: using a smoker in a hazardous fire area needs a permit from the Fire Code Official. The section is headed Apiaries and sits in the wildland-urban interface code.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit for keeping bees. The only obligation is the fire permit for smoker use in hazardous fire areas.

Note: Larkspur has no beekeeping ordinance, and a search of the whole code across every beekeeping term returns exactly one section. That section is not in the animals title or the zoning code, it is in the wildland-urban interface fire code, and it is headed Apiaries. What it requires is specific and easy to fall foul of: you may not use lighted or smouldering material in connection with smoking bees in or upon a hazardous fire area without a permit from the Fire Code Official. That covers an ordinary smoker on an ordinary inspection, and Larkspur has a lot of land that qualifies as hazardous fire area. So if any part of your property is in one, ring the fire department before your first inspection of the season and ask about Appendix A section A104.13. Beyond that there is no hive count, no setback and no permit to keep bees at all. This pattern is worth carrying wherever you keep bees in California: Larkspur is the seventh jurisdiction we have found whose only beekeeping obligation lives in a fire code, so if a city code turns up nothing about bees, search the fire title before concluding there are no rules. California also requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner.

• Lighted or smouldering material may not be used in connection with smoking bees in or upon hazardous fire areas, except under a permit from the Fire Code Official. In practice this means a smoker needs a fire permit in those areas. A104.13

Apiaries have been unlawful anywhere in Mill Valley since 1 July 1943, and keeping one is declared a nuisance.

Hive limit: None. Apiaries are prohibited.

Note: Mill Valley prohibits apiaries outright, and has done since 1943. The provision groups them with cows, dairies and stockyards, which tells you how the city was thinking about beekeeping at the time, and it has never been amended or given an exception, a permit route or a minimum acreage. We also read the separate animal services chapter and it contains no bee provision at all, so nothing elsewhere in the code softens this. If you want to keep bees in Mill Valley the realistic route is asking the council to revisit an eighty-year-old ordinance, not looking for a way through it. State registration with the Marin County Agricultural Commissioner would still apply to any lawful apiary outside the city.

• From and after 1 July 1943 it is unlawful for any person to construct, operate or maintain, or permit to be constructed, operated or maintained, upon any premises within the city any cow, dairy, stockyards or apiary, and the keeping of any of them is declared to be a nuisance. 6.12.140

In the City of Novato, there are no municipal codes set in place for the ownership of apiaries.

No beekeeping rule appears anywhere in the town animals title. Ross adopts the Marin County animal services ordinance by reference, so the county rules are the ones that reach a Ross resident.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit for bees appears in the town animals title.

Note: We read the Town of Ross animals title in full and there is no beekeeping rule in it. The permit chapter is about horses, cows, goats and poultry, and bees are not mentioned in any of the three chapters that make up the title. That is a real search result rather than an assumption, and the town code is current, with amendments carried in 2025. What matters more is where the rules that do reach you come from. Ross adopts the Marin County animal services ordinance by reference, which means the county chapter applies inside the town as though it were the town's own, and it applies as amended, so it can change without Ross touching its code. Read the Marin County card on this site alongside this one, and note in particular that the county expressly excepts the honey-producing bee from its definition of a venomous wild animal. One limit on what we can tell you: we have read the animals title but not the town zoning title, and beekeeping is often regulated through a zoning use class such as agriculture or animal husbandry rather than in an animals chapter. Before you set up hives, ask the town planning counter whether the zoning ordinance says anything about bees, and get the answer in writing. California still requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner either way.

• Under Government Code § 50022.9 the town adopts by reference the Marin County animal services ordinance at Title 8 Ch. 8.04 of the Marin County Code, as it may be amended from time to time, and it is in full force within the Town of Ross. 8.04.010
• The animal permit chapter requires a town council permit, after a noticed hearing, to keep horses, cows, goats and similar animals within fifty feet of any church, school or occupied building, and bars live poultry within fifty feet of a residence other than the owner's or of any street. Bees are not among the animals it covers. 8.16.010 to 8.16.100

San Anselmo sets no hive count, setback or permit for keeping bees. It does have one beekeeping rule, and it is in the fire code: in a hazardous fire area you need a permit from the Fire Code Official before using lighted or smouldering material to smoke bees.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit for keeping bees. The only provision is the fire code smoker permit.

Note: Nothing in San Anselmo tells you how many hives you may keep or where to put them, so site them sensibly and talk to your neighbours before you do. The one rule that does exist is easy to miss because of where it lives. San Anselmo adopts the 2025 California Wildland Urban Interface Code and amends it, and item 13 of those amendments is headed Apiaries: lighted or smouldering material may not be used in connection with smoking bees in or upon a hazardous fire area except by permit from the Fire Code Official. In plain terms, if your apiary sits in a hazardous fire area you need the fire department's permission before you light a smoker. Find out whether your address is in one before the season starts rather than during it. Marin is largely wildland urban interface, so assume the question applies to you until the town tells you otherwise. California still requires apiary registration with the Marin County agricultural commissioner whatever the town does.

• In a hazardous fire area, do not use lighted or smouldering material in connection with smoking bees without a permit from the Fire Code Official. § 3-3.1002, WUI amendments item 13, Apiaries

Beekeeping specifically exempted from animal keeping regulations 14.17.020 (B)(8)

A written permit from the Health Officer is required, renewed annually. Three hives maximum, and none within 300 feet of a public school, park or playground.

Hive limit: No permit may be issued for more than three hives.

Note: Sausalito requires a written permit from the Health Officer before you keep any bees, and the decision turns on their judgement about whether your bees will probably become a nuisance, made after they inspect the site and the neighbourhood. Three hives is the ceiling and nothing may sit within 300 feet of a public school, park or playground. The part to plan around is the renewal: every permit expires after a year and you must apply again from scratch, so this is not a one-time approval. Keeping bees without a current permit is a misdemeanour, not an infraction. The ordinance dates from 1955, so it is worth asking the city how the process runs today.

• No person, partnership or association may keep bees in the city without a written permit from the Health Officer, granted only after a written application giving the applicant’s name and address, the location and dimensions of the lot, and whether the bees are to be kept as a hobby or for production. 6.16.010
• Before issuing a permit the Health Officer investigates the proposed location, the surrounding neighbourhood and all other matters bearing on whether the keeping might result in a public or private nuisance, and issues only on finding that it will probably not do so. 6.16.020
• No permit may be issued for hives less than 300 feet from a public school, park or playground, nor for more than three hives. Every permit expires one year after issue, at which point a new application must be submitted. 6.16.030
• Keeping bees without a valid written permit from the Health Officer is a misdemeanour. 6.16.040

A beekeeping permit is required and the director of community development grants it ministerially, without notice, discretionary review or a public hearing. The standards the director applies are not in the code. They are adopted separately by resolution of the town council, so ask the town for the current version before you plan anything.

Hive limit: Not in the code. § 16-40.070(D) sends the hive count and every other standard to a resolution of the town council. Treat this as unknown rather than unlimited, and ask the community development department for the adopted standards for beekeeping.

Note: Tiburon is the easiest permit and the hardest research in this county. The permit itself is genuinely light: you apply to the director of community development under division 16-50 with the fee, and § 16-40.070(C) says the director acts on it as a ministerial permit, without notice, without discretionary review and without a public hearing. That was deliberate. Ordinance 542 N.S. in 2012 took beekeeping off the discretionary use permit track at § 20-1.003 and put it here, which makes Tiburon one of only two places in this dataset with a documented move towards allowing bees more easily. The catch is that the code does not tell you the rules. § 16-40.070(D) says the director grants the permit on finding the use complies with the standards for beekeeping as adopted by resolution of the town council, and that resolution is not part of the municipal code. So the hive count, the setbacks and the barrier requirements all exist somewhere we cannot read, and anyone telling you Tiburon has no hive limit is guessing. Ring or email community development and ask for the current adopted standards for beekeeping before you buy bees. A few things the code does tell you. Beekeeping is an accessory use to a single family dwelling in certain residential zones, not a use in its own right. A permit expires if the use never starts within two years. Every two years you must confirm in writing, under penalty of perjury, that you are still complying. The director can revoke a permit for false information on the application, for keeping bees contrary to the adopted standards, for abandoning the use for two years, or if the town declares it a nuisance. Complaints have to be in writing and supported by substantial evidence, the town must tell you within ten business days that one has been made, and must report on it within thirty days, which is more protection than most ordinances give a beekeeper.

• Get a beekeeping permit from the director of community development before keeping hives on any lot in the town. Apply under division 16-50 with the appropriate fee. § 16-40.070(A), (B)
• The director acts on the application as a ministerial permit, without notice, discretionary review or a public hearing. § 16-40.070(C)
• The standards the director applies are adopted by resolution of the town council and are not printed in the municipal code. Ask the community development department for the current adopted standards for beekeeping. § 16-40.070(D)
• Beekeeping is provided for as an accessory use to a single-family dwelling in certain residential zones. §§ 16-40.070, 16-21.030
• Get any site plan and architectural review or building permits associated with the use before the beekeeping starts. § 16-40.070(E)
• A permit expires two years after issue if the use never commences. § 16-40.070(G)
• Every two years, confirm in writing under penalty of perjury that the use still complies with the standards it was granted under. § 16-40.070(I)
• The director may revoke or modify a permit for false information on the application, for keeping bees contrary to the adopted standards or any other law, for abandoning the use for two years, or where the town declares it a public nuisance under chapter 31. § 16-40.070(H)
• A complaint must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence. The town must notify the property owner within ten business days of receiving one, and must issue a written report to the complainant within thirty days of that notice. § 16-40.070(J)
• A beekeeping use holding a conditional use permit granted before 14 September 2012 remains lawful as a nonconforming use as long as it keeps to that permit's conditions. § 16-40.070(F)