Glendale, AZ Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Sec. 25-26 of the Glendale Code of Ordinances lays out a full dimensional and licensing scheme for apiaries. It is unlawful to keep bees at all on a lot under six thousand square feet, and even on qualifying lots the density is capped at one hive or colony for every one thousand seven hundred square feet of lot area. Every hive must sit at least fifty feet from any boundary line of the lot where the bees are kept, and at least two hundred feet from an existing dwelling on another lot, setbacks that push backyard apiaries toward larger residential parcels and away from tightly packed subdivisions.

Keepers must provide a constant, easily accessible water supply sufficient for the colony so bees do not seek water from neighboring pools or spigots, and the ordinance separately bars keeping bees in any manner that creates a hazard to public health, safety or welfare. Unlike many Arizona cities that allow beekeeping by right, Glendale requires city certification before anyone may keep bees: the keeper must apply, pass a visual inspection confirming compliance with the section's spacing and management standards, and pay a one-time twenty-five dollar fee.

Once certified, the city notifies the owners of properties abutting the apiary lot that certification has been granted, giving neighbors formal notice that bees are now present next door. The section was adopted by Ord. No. O21-91 on December 14, 2021, and sits in Article II of Chapter 25 alongside the city's general nuisance-conditions provisions, so an uncertified or non-compliant apiary can also be pursued as a public nuisance under the Article II enforcement mechanism in Sec. 25-36.