Marion, OH Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Section 618.15(A) of the Marion Codified Ordinances sets a single distance test: no person can keep any bees in or within any premises in the municipality within 2,000 feet of any building used as a residence or for industrial or commercial use wherein persons are employed. The section prints no permit, hive count, registration or flyway standard. The 2,000-foot figure is the whole standard, and it is measured from buildings of two kinds: homes, and workplaces where people are employed.

Division (B) carves out one exception: nothing in the section prohibits keeping bees in a hive or box located or kept within a schoolhouse for the purpose of study or observation. No other exception for hobby or commercial apiaries is printed in § 618.15.

Division (C) declares keeping bees in violation of the section a nuisance, which ties the beekeeping rule to the broader nuisance provisions of the Marion code. Division (D) adds that a separate offense is deemed committed each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues, so an ongoing apiary is charged day by day rather than once.

Honey bees are not treated as a dangerous animal elsewhere in the chapter: the exotic and dangerous animal list in § 618.18(C)(33) names stinging insects but carves out honey bees. The beekeeping distance rule in § 618.15 is therefore the operative restriction on keeping hives in the City of Marion.