Sonoma County Beekeeping Regulations

The code addresses beekeeping but sets no use-specific standards for it.

Beekeeping is a permitted use in the R-R and R-1 residential districts and is not permitted in R-2 or R-3. The code states that uses not listed in the table are prohibited, so in R-2 and R-3 that is a prohibition rather than a silence.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit is attached to beekeeping in the use table. The control is which district your parcel is in.

Note: Cloverdale answers this question by district, and the answer is a clean yes or no. Beekeeping is a permitted use in the R-R rural residential and R-1 single-family districts, which means allowed by right with no use permit. It is marked not permitted in R-2 and R-3, and the code is explicit that a use not permitted in the table is prohibited, so in those two districts this is a genuine prohibition rather than a gap you might argue about. Find your zoning first, because nothing else on this card matters until you have. If you are in R-R or R-1 the good news is that no hive count, setback, fence or permit is attached to beekeeping anywhere in the use table, which makes Cloverdale one of the simpler places in Sonoma County to comply with. One thing worth asking the planning counter: the same table carries a footnote requiring animals and fowl to be penned at least twenty five feet from any residence other than your own, and it is not clear from the published table whether that footnote reaches beekeeping or only the chicken and 4-H rows. Ask, and get the answer in writing before you site the hive. A quirk of the drafting you may run into: the code expressly says bees are not a domestic animal or household pet, and puts apiaries inside its definition of agriculture instead. That is not a problem here because the use table names beekeeping directly, but it explains why bees are treated as farming rather than as pets. California still requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner.

• Beekeeping is marked as a permitted use. 18.04.040, Table 18.04.040-A
• Beekeeping is marked not permitted, and the table states that uses not permitted in it are prohibited. 18.04.040, Table 18.04.040-A
• Only uses listed as principal permitted, accessory or conditional uses for a district are permitted there. Principal permitted uses are allowed without a use permit. 18.14.030
• Agriculture is defined to include apiaries alongside farming, dairying, pasturage, horticulture, floriculture and viticulture. A domestic animal means a household pet such as a dog, cat or bird, and expressly does not include bees. 18.14.030

Cotati sets no beekeeping standards. Bees are expressly excluded from the definition of poultry.

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

Note: Cotati sets no hive count, setback or permit. The single mention of bees in the code is in the definition of poultry, which expressly excludes them, so the rules about keeping fowl do not apply to a hive. Treat that as an absence of local regulation rather than an express permission, and register with the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner as state law requires.

• The definition of poultry covers domesticated fowl but expressly excludes bees, so the fowl-keeping provisions do not reach hives. Definitions

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

Note: Searched against the live code in 2026 with no result, so this card no longer reads as unknown. Three caveats are worth carrying, each learned from a real California code this year. A code can regulate bees without naming them, by folding beekeeping into a defined use class such as "agriculture" or "animal husbandry" and then regulating that class in a zoning table. Vocabulary can hide a rule outright, "bee culture" being the most obscure term found so far. And obligations can sit outside the animals and zoning titles entirely, including apiary provisions in wildland-urban interface fire codes. Check Sonoma County’s own card as well as this one, since county and city rules differ and the county’s may be the one that binds you. California still requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner.

Beekeeping is permitted. Up to two colonies per household, in framed movable hives, kept a safe distance from pedestrian walkways and traffic.

Hive limit: Two colonies per household.

Note: Read in full in 2026. The section is headed "Beehives prohibited" and its text does the opposite: keeping a bee colony or maintaining an apiary in Petaluma is PERMITTED, subject to two colonies per household, framed movable hives, and a safe distance from pedestrian traffic. Do not read the heading as the rule. Note the distance is written as a standard rather than a measurement, so there is no number to comply with — the test is whether the placement is safe and not a nuisance, which is a judgement the city makes.

• No more than two bee colonies are permitted per household. 9.08.030(A)
• All hives must be framed and moveable. 9.08.030(B)
• All hives must be kept a safe distance away from pedestrian walkways and pedestrian traffic, and so as not to constitute a nuisance. The code sets no figure for that distance. 9.08.030(C)

Within the Sonoma Mountain Village planned development, a residential yard may keep up to two hives in the T3 and T4 zones and a commercial rooftop up to ten hives in the T5, T6, CP, CB and T7 zones. These rules govern that development, not the whole city.

Hive limit: Two hives for a residential yard, ten for a commercial roof. Both caps are written into the use table itself rather than into a separate standard.

Note: Read the scope of this one carefully before you rely on it. The beekeeping allowances we found in Rohnert Park sit inside the zoning article for the Sonoma Mountain Village planned development, so they govern that development rather than the city as a whole. If your address is not in Sonoma Mountain Village, ask the city what applies to you, because we did not find a general citywide beekeeping provision. Within that development the rules are good and unusually modern. A residential yard may have up to two hives in the T3 and T4 zones. A commercial rooftop may have up to ten in the T5, T6, CP, CB and T7 zones, which is one of the few places in California where rooftop beekeeping is written into a zoning table with its own hive limit. One caution. The city's general nuisance chapter lists the maintenance of insects including bees among designated nuisances, in flat terms that sit awkwardly beside a zoning table permitting hives. It most likely means keeping bees in a way that becomes a nuisance rather than keeping them at all, but the code does not say so, and it is the kind of provision that surfaces during a neighbour complaint. Worth raising with the city so you have their reading on record.

• Beekeeping — Residential Yard, up to 2 hives, is a permitted land use. 17.06.840
• Beekeeping — Commercial Roof, up to 10 hives, is a permitted land use. 17.06.840
• The nuisance chapter lists the maintenance of any insects, including but not limited to bees whether wild or domestic, among designated nuisances. 1.23.030
• The animal definitions expressly exclude bees from the livestock and fowl category. 6.02.070

Bees are expressly excluded from the definition of an animal, and the only insect nuisance provision targets wild bees rather than managed hives.

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

Note: Santa Rosa sets no beekeeping standards at all, and it gets there in an unusual way: rather than folding bees into the animal keeping rules, its definition of "animal" expressly excludes them, so those rules never apply to a hive. The only provision that could touch you is the nuisance clause about harbouring insects, and it is aimed at wild bees, hornets and wasps kept so as to pose a threat, not at a managed colony. Register with the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner as state law requires, and check the county card as well as this one.

• The definition of "animal" covers bovine, caprine, porcine and fowl species but expressly excludes bees, so the animal keeping provisions do not reach hives. Definitions
• It is a nuisance to keep insects, including but not limited to wild bees, hornets or wasps, on any property in such a manner as to pose a threat, disturbance, danger or menace to any person or the property of another. Property Maintenance Code

Hives must sit at least 5 ft from property lines and out of any required front yard, with screening to lift bee flight paths above head height. Operations must follow the Sonoma County Beekeeper's Association best practices, which the code adopts as binding.

Hive limit: No hive cap. Nine colonies is the line between "amateur" and "commercial" beekeeping, not a limit.

Note: Read in full in 2026. The 5 ft setback is confirmed, and the front yard exclusion and screening rules were missing from the card. Two features are worth knowing because they are unusual. First, the binding standards are not in the municipal code: § 17.300.050(A) adopts the Sonoma County Beekeeper's Association's Recommended Best Management Practices, dated October 2016 and as amended, so hive density, placement, temperament and disease control are governed by an association document that can change without the city amending anything. Read that document, not just the code. Second, the definitions overlap: amateur beekeeping is nine or fewer colonies and commercial is nine or greater, so exactly nine falls under both. That looks like a drafting slip rather than an intention, and if you are at nine it is worth asking the city which applies. Note also that the six-foot flyway height is written as a recommendation while the five-foot setback is a requirement.

• Hives must be set back a minimum of five feet from property lines and may not be located in any required front yard. Screening, foliage, shrubs, trees, fencing and barriers must be placed as necessary to redirect bee flight paths and minimise human and animal contact. 17.300.050(B)
• Screening should be dense and long enough to establish bee flyways above head height, a minimum of six feet, in all directions. The code words this as a recommendation rather than a requirement. 17.300.050(B)
• Beekeeping operations must comply with the Sonoma County Beekeeper's Association Recommended Best Management Practices for Sustainable Beekeeping, dated 10 October 2016 and as amended, covering hive location and placement, hive density, hive management and maintenance, colony temperament, swarming and honey bee removal and relocation, and disease control. 17.300.050(A)
• Amateur beekeeping means an apiary owned and operated by someone with nine or fewer colonies who is not in the business of beekeeping. Commercial beekeeping means an apiary owned and operated by a person or business with nine or greater colonies who is in the business of beekeeping. 17.08.040

Up to two hives on lots of 10,000 square feet or less and up to four on larger lots, kept in the rear yard, ten feet from side and rear property lines, behind a six foot fence or hedge with the entrance facing away from the neighbours. Five to ten hives are allowed only in the agricultural and public zones on at least two acres.

Hive limit: The cap depends on lot size and then on zone: two hives up to 10,000 sq ft, four above that, and five to ten only in the agricultural and public zones on a minimum of two acres.

Note: Sonoma has one of the best beekeeping rules in California, and it is worth reading in full because it tells you exactly what is expected rather than leaving you to guess. Start with your lot. On 10,000 square feet or less you may keep two hives; above that, four. Either way the hives go in the rear yard, at least ten feet from your side and rear property lines, and beekeeping is not allowed at all in the commercial, mixed use, multifamily or mobile home districts. If you want five to ten hives, that is a different proposition: agricultural and public zones only, and at least two acres. The siting rules are the part worth getting right. Point the hive entrance away from your neighbour, and put a fence, hedge or similar screen at least six feet tall along the property line so the bees have to climb before they leave your land. A hedge counts, so you do not need to build anything. The code also asks you to position the hive so the first twenty five feet of the flight path is aimed away from houses, yours included, which is a more precise version of the same idea and genuinely useful guidance. Then there are the management duties, and these are unusually well written. You must keep the colony in a condition that will reasonably prevent swarming and aggression, keep water on your own property so the bees are not at a neighbour pool, and keep the boxes and the area around them clean. Note the word reasonably: Sonoma asks you to manage the colony properly rather than making a swarm itself an offence, which is the fair way to write it, because even a well run hive can throw a swarm. One gap to be aware of: the table stops at ten hives and does not say what happens above that, so if you are scaling up, ask the city first.

• It is unlawful to keep or maintain honeybees, fowl, rabbits or livestock except as provided in this chapter, so the Table 3 standards are the permission as well as the limits. 8.08.010(C)
• Beekeeping is prohibited in the commercial, mixed-use, multifamily and mobile home zoning districts. A maximum of two hives is allowed on lots of 10,000 square feet or less, and a maximum of four on lots larger than 10,000 square feet. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• Five to ten hives are allowed only in the agricultural and public zones, on a minimum of two acres. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• Hives must be at least ten feet from any side or rear property line and must be in the rear yard. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• The hive entrance must be directed away from the neighbouring property, and hives must sit behind a fence, hedge or similar screen at least six feet high running parallel to the property line. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• Hives must be of adequate size and positioned so that the first 25 feet of the flight path is directed away from on-site or neighbouring residences. Hives must be fully enclosed with a roof covering or weatherproof top and constructed so the bees can be properly contained. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• Every person on whose property bees are kept has a duty to maintain the bees in a condition that will reasonably prevent swarming and aggressive behaviour, to provide adequate water so they do not seek water on neighbouring properties, and to keep the hive boxes and the area around them clean and sanitary. 8.08.030(C), Table 3
• Hives must be constructed to prevent rats, mice and other rodents being harboured underneath or within their walls or enclosures, and anything associated with the bees that might attract or become infested by rodents must be protected. 8.08.030(C), Table 3

Beekeeping is permitted as an accessory use to a residential use in the RR, ER, SR and VR zones and in the OS zone, subject to Director approval, one criterion for which is the ability to comply with the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association recommended best practices.

Hive limit: No hive count appears in the provisions we read. The control is Director approval against stated considerations.

Note: Windsor does have beekeeping rules, contrary to what this card used to say, and they are among the more thoughtful in the state. Beekeeping is permitted in the RR, ER, SR and VR residential zones and in the OS open space zone, and it is treated as an accessory use to a home, so it has to attach to an existing or proposed residential use rather than stand on its own. Approval comes from the Director, and the single most useful thing to know is what the Director is looking at: one of the stated considerations is whether you can comply with the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association's Recommended Best Practices for Sustainable Beekeeping. That is the town saying, in its own code, that the standard it cares about is the one the local beekeepers wrote. Read those practices before you apply, and say in your application that you will follow them. There is no hive number in the section, so ask the planning department what they expect. One small oddity to be aware of when you look it up: the code refers to this section as 17.40.060 in one place and 17.40.070 in others, so search for the word beekeeping rather than the number.

• Beekeeping is allowed only as an accessory use to an existing or proposed residential use, where allowed by the zone tables in Article 2. 17.40.060
• Considerations for allowing beekeeping subject to Director approval include the ability to comply with the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association Recommended Best Practices for Sustainable Beekeeping. 17.40.060
• Beekeeping is marked permitted in the RR, ER, SR and VR residential zones and not allowed in the MDR and CR zones. 17.10.030
• Beekeeping is marked permitted in the OS open space zone and not allowed in the PI and REC special purpose zones. 17.16.030
• Beekeeping is defined as the keeping and maintenance of a collection of hives or colonies of bees, also known as an apiary. 17.110.030