Mesa, AZ Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Mesa's fowl, rodent, and livestock chapter opens with a blanket rule: no one may keep fowl, rodents, or livestock in the city 'other than listed in this chapter,' and permission to do so exists only 'in the manner and upon the conditions set forth in this chapter' (§ 8-6-21). ' That means a hive is lawful only on land carrying Mesa's AG (Agricultural) or R1-43 (single-family residential, large-lot) zoning designation, the city's most rural residential and farm districts under Title 11. Anywhere else in Mesa, including standard single-family subdivisions, an apiary is not a permitted use under this section, regardless of hive count or placement.

The chapter does not carve out an exception for small hobbyist hives or FFA/4-H education projects the way it does for certain livestock in § 8-6-21(E). A violation of the zoning limit is enforced as a civil violation of Chapter 6 like any other Article IV offense: citations issue under § 8-6-8, and the civil sanction schedule in § 8-6-9(A), $250 to $1,500 for a first finding, rising with repeat findings within 36 months, applies, with habitual-offender criminal exposure under § 8-6-11 after three findings in three years.