Santa Barbara County Beekeeping Regulations

Three hundred feet from any property line or road, except when pollinating crops, and six hundred feet from any dwelling that is not yours unless its occupant gives permission. Water must be provided when the apiary is set and maintained for as long as it stays. An apiary on land you do not own needs the landowner's written permission.

Hive limit: No colony cap anywhere in the article. Santa Barbara controls apiaries by distance, water and landowner permission.

Note: Read the pollination exception before you read the numbers, because it changes who this ordinance is really aimed at. Apiaries must be at least three hundred feet from a property line or road, but that requirement does not apply when you are pollinating crops, which in this county covers a great deal of what colonies are doing. What remains without exception is the general nuisance rule: no apiary may sit so close to a public or private road used by the public as to be a nuisance or hazard to people using it. Separately, keep six hundred feet from any building used as a dwelling other than your own, and that one can be waived by the permission of the occupant. Water is a duty tied to placement rather than a general standard: you must provide water at the time the set is made and maintain it for as long as the apiary stays there, unless the landowner gives written permission to use water already on the land. If the apiary is not on your own land you need the written permission of the owner or the person lawfully in possession before you place it. Identification follows state law rather than a local specification, so the sign requirements of Food and Agricultural Code § 29046 are the ones that apply. When transporting hives on public roads at a time when the bees are flying, they must be substantially confined by screens or other means to the vehicle, except in an emergency. The county introduces the article by saying that unregulated and improper beekeeping had become a nuisance and a hazard, and that the article is to be construed to supplement and harmonise with state law, which is a useful signal that it is not meant to be read as a complete code on its own.

• Keep no apiary within three hundred feet of a property line or road, except when pollinating crops. § 7-31
• Keep no apiary so close to a public or private road used by the public as to constitute a nuisance or hazard to people using it. This applies regardless of the pollination exception. § 7-31
• Keep no apiary closer than six hundred feet to any building used as a dwelling other than one you own, without the permission of the occupant. § 7-31
• Provide water at the time the apiary is set, and maintain it for as long as the apiary stays on the property, unless the landowner gives written permission to use water already situated on the land. § 7-34
• Obtain the written permission of the owner or person lawfully in possession before placing an apiary on land you do not own or possess. § 7-32
• An apiary on premises other than where you reside must be identified as provided by state law. § 7-29
• When transporting hives on public roads at a time when the bees are flying, confine them substantially by screens or other means to the vehicle, except in an emergency. § 7-33

Buellton sets no beekeeping standards. Its only bee reference is a nuisance clause that applies where some other provision of the code is broken.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit anywhere in the code.

Note: Buellton has no beekeeping standard: no hive count, no setback, no permit and no prohibition. The single reference to bees is in the public nuisance list, and it is derivative, meaning bees only become a nuisance where they are kept in violation of some other provision of the code. Since there is no other provision for it to hook into, the practical position is that Buellton does not regulate beekeeping, but confirm with the city before relying on that. Several other California cities carry the identical construction.

• Animals, livestock, poultry or bees kept, bred or maintained for any purpose in violation of any provision of this code are a public nuisance. The clause is conditional on breaching some other provision and sets no standard of its own. Public nuisances

Defined as Agriculture.

Bees are permitted as small animals for the residents’ own domestic use, provided the keeping is not injurious to the neighbourhood in the Director’s judgement.

Hive limit: No hive count or setback is set for bees specifically.

Note: Goleta does not have a beekeeping chapter. Bees appear only as one example in a list of small animals that residents may keep, so there is no hive count and no setback written for hives. Two conditions govern instead: the bees must be for your own use rather than a commercial operation, and the keeping must not be injurious to the neighbourhood or create offensive noise or odour, which the Community Development Director decides after advice from the County Public Health Department. That makes good neighbour relations the practical rule here. Solvang uses almost identical wording.

• Small animals, given as bees, chickens, ducks and rabbits, are permitted provided they are for the domestic use or enjoyment of the residents of the lot only and are not kept for commercial purposes. Small Animals (a)
• Keeping them must not be injurious to the health, safety or general welfare of the neighbourhood and must not create offensive noise or odour, as determined by the Director after advice from the County Public Health Department. Small Animals (b)

Guadalupe repealed its livestock, poultry and bees ordinance in 2006 and has set no beekeeping rules since.

Hive limit: None. The ordinance that set them was repealed.

Note: Guadalupe once regulated the keeping of livestock, poultry and bees and repealed that ordinance in 2006 without replacing it, so the city now sets no hive count, setback or permit. Treat that as an absence of local regulation rather than an express permission, and confirm with the city before doing anything at scale. State registration with the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner still applies, and the county’s own card is worth reading alongside this one.

• Ordinance 127, keeping of livestock, poultry and bees, is recorded as repealed by Ordinance 2006-375, and no replacement appears in the code. Ordinance disposition table

No hive within 600 feet of any residence other than the beekeeper’s, or any hospital, school, church, office, store, hotel, apartment house or other place of habitation.

Hive limit: No hive count is set. The 600 ft separation is what governs.

Note: Lompoc has the largest beekeeping setback we have found anywhere in California: 600 feet, and not merely from homes but from hospitals, schools, churches, offices, stores, hotels, apartment houses and any other place of habitation. Inside the city that distance cannot realistically be met on any parcel. There is one important gap in what we can tell you. The section goes on to state an exception, and the published document’s layout made that sentence impossible to read reliably, so we have not recorded it. If you want to keep bees in Lompoc, that exception is the first thing to ask the city about, because it may well be where the answer lies.

• No person shall keep any hive of bees within 600 feet of any residence, not including the beekeeper’s own, or of any hospital, school, church, office building, store, hotel, apartment house or any other place of habitation. 6.04.110
• The section states an exception beginning "This Section shall not apply to the ...", the text of which we were unable to recover from the published document. 6.04.110
• The definition of poultry covers domesticated fowl but expressly excludes bees. Definitions

Four hives on lots under 10,000 square feet and one more for every additional 5,000, registered with the county, kept 20 feet back from streets and sidewalks.

Hive limit: Four hives on lots under 10,000 sq ft. On larger lots, one additional hive for each further 5,000 sq ft of lot area.

Note: Santa Barbara is generous on numbers: four hives on an ordinary lot, and if you have more than 10,000 square feet you gain another hive for every additional 5,000, with no stated ceiling. There is no setback to your neighbour’s house or property line in the chapter at all, only 20 feet back from any public street, sidewalk or thoroughfare. What the code does insist on is husbandry and paperwork: movable-frame hives, enough space inside to prevent overcrowding and swarming, and registration of every colony with the county agricultural commissioner. Neighbouring Santa Maria uses the same hive formula, so the two cities read alike.

• It is unlawful to keep bees except in a manner complying with this chapter. 6.28.010
• Each colony must be maintained in movable-frame hives, adequate space must be kept in the hive to prevent overcrowding and swarming or aggressive behaviour, and each colony must be registered with the County Agricultural Commissioner. 6.28.020
• No more than four hives on lots under 10,000 square feet. On larger lots, one additional hive for each further 5,000 square feet of lot area. Hives may not be placed within 20 lineal feet of any public street, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare. 6.28.030
• Beekeepers must comply with all state regulations governing bee management and honey production in Division 13 of the state Agricultural Code, which are enforced by the County Agricultural Commissioner. 6.28.040

Commercial beekeeping is unlawful. Noncommercial keeping is allowed at four hives under 10,000 square feet, ten feet from property lines unless raised eight feet.

Hive limit: Four hives on lots under 10,000 sq ft, plus one more for each additional 5,000 sq ft above that.

Note: Santa Maria splits sharply on purpose. Keeping bees commercially inside the city is unlawful outright, but keeping them for your own use is straightforwardly allowed: four hives on a normal lot, more if you have over 10,000 square feet, and ten feet from the property line unless you raise the hive eight feet off the ground, which removes the setback entirely. Two things are worth planning around. Only honey bees are permitted, and a neighbour’s complaint can trigger an order to move your hives at least 300 feet from their boundary, so siting well away from the nearest occupied home is worth more here than the bare setback suggests.

• It is unlawful to engage in commercial beekeeping, meaning the keeping of bees for commercial purposes, within the city. 5-3.701
• Keeping bees for noncommercial purposes is unlawful except as prescribed by this article. Keeping bees in a hive or box within a school building or similar educational or research institution for study, observation or other scientific purpose is not prohibited. 5-3.701
• Bees may only be of the species known as honey bees, Apis mellifera. 5-3.702
• Each colony must be maintained in movable frame hives with adequate space to prevent overcrowding and swarming or aggressive behaviour. No more than four hives on lots under 10,000 square feet, and on larger lots one additional hive for each further 5,000 square feet. No hive within 10 feet of any property line unless situated eight feet or more above adjacent ground level. 5-3.703
• Hives may be required to be moved, with all bees in them, to a location not less than 300 feet from the exterior boundaries of a complaining owner or resident’s property. 5-3.703
• Beekeepers must comply with Division 13 of the state Agriculture Code, section 29001 and following. Agriculture Code violations are enforced by the County Agricultural Commission and other violations by the Director of Community Development. 5-3.705

Bees are permitted as small animals for the residents’ own use, with enclosures kept at least 25 feet from any dwelling.

Hive limit: No hive count is set. The only numeric standard is the 25 ft enclosure setback.

Note: Solvang treats bees as small animals rather than giving them a chapter, so there is no hive limit. Keep them for your own household rather than commercially, site the hives at least 25 feet from any dwelling, and make sure the keeping does not become a noise or odour complaint, since the Community Development Director judges that. One useful wrinkle: selling produce raised on site through a registered charity or a school organisation does not count as a commercial purpose, so a school or club project is not caught by the commercial bar. Neighbouring Goleta uses almost the same wording.

• Small animals, given as chickens, birds, ducks, rabbits and bees, are permitted provided they are for the domestic use of the residents of the lot only and are not kept for commercial purposes. 11-12-5(F)
• The keeping must not be injurious to the health, safety or welfare of the neighbourhood and must not create offensive noise or odour as determined by the Community Development Director, and enclosures must be no closer than 25 feet to any dwelling. 11-12-5(F)(2)-(3)
• Sale of animals raised on site in connection with a charitable 501(c)(3) organisation, or a public or private school sponsored organisation, is not treated as a commercial purpose. 11-12-5(B)