Eagan, MN Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Eagan City Code § 10.12, Subd. 9 permits honey bee colonies only on agriculturally zoned land or, elsewhere, on a single-family detached lot under a city-issued beekeeping permit. Applicants file with the city clerk a sketch plan showing hive placement measured to every lot line and to each neighboring dwelling, deck, patio, pool or outdoor living space, a statement on any HOA restriction, and proof of either an eight-hour beekeeping basics course through the University of Minnesota BeeLab or a local club, or three consecutive years of documented beekeeping experience within the prior five years.

Permits run one year, with renewal due 60 days before expiration. Colony placement rules bar hives from any front or side yard except on agricultural or ten-plus-acre lots, and no part of a hive may sit within 20 feet of a lot line or within 30 feet of a neighboring dwelling unit or outdoor living space. Where a hive falls inside 25 feet of a lot line or 35 feet of a neighboring dwelling, the beekeeper must install and maintain a flyway barrier, a six-foot stone wall, solid fence or dense hedge, so bees are forced to fly up and over rather than straight across a property line; a flyway barrier is not required when the abutting lot is undeveloped or is itself zoned agricultural or ten acres or more.

Beekeepers must keep hives in good repair, provide a clean water source, promptly remove hive debris, and manage colonies to prevent swarming and aggressive behavior. The keeping of bees for home-occupation honey harvesting is allowed in a garage or accessory structure even though hives are visible from the street, an exception the code carves out from the general home-occupation rules.