Costa Mesa, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

3 makes it unlawful to have, keep or maintain any hive or swarm of wasps, hornets, bees or other swarming insects in Costa Mesa, with exceptions only for educational or medical/research settings and for domesticated bees kept under a permit from the police chief or their designee. 4 spells out the permit process: a written application to the police department's animal services unit with a council-set fee, followed by mailed notice to all directly abutting property owners and residents, who get up to 30 days to respond, with special weight given to neighbors who have a medical allergy to bee stings.

Beekeepers with hives established before the ordinance's February 21, 2025 effective date had 90 days to obtain a permit and come into compliance. On siting, hives must be at least 15 feet from any property line and 25 feet from neighboring residential buildings; hives that can't meet that spacing instead require a six-foot solid barrier, wall or dense vegetation to redirect bee flight paths up and away from neighboring properties. Hives are barred outright within 500 feet of Fairview Park, Talbert Park, Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (Back Bay), and the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve to protect native pollinators.

A property is capped at two production hives, plus temporary expansion hives as needed for swarm management, and hives must be registered with the Orange County agricultural commissioner under Food and Agriculture Code Section 20943 and kept in conformity with the city's Residential Beekeeping Best Management Practices. Permits expire two years from issuance and must be renewed.