Monroe County, FL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Section 130-94(a) lists the uses allowed as of right in the Suburban Residential district, and beekeeping sits third on that list, alongside detached dwellings and parks, with no permit or conditional-use process attached. That stands in direct contrast to the very next entry on the same list: home occupations require a special use permit. The same by-right treatment for beekeeping repeats in Section 130-95 for the Suburban Residential (Limited) district, Section 130-89 for the Native Area district, Section 130-87 for the Mainland Native Area district, and Section 130-90 for the Offshore Island district.

None of these sections impose a colony count limit, a lot-size minimum, a setback from a property line, or a registration requirement; beekeeping simply appears on the permitted-use list the same way parks and accessory uses do. Because the Land Development Code treats beekeeping as a use of land rather than a structure, it is not subject to the density and intensity tables that separately govern dwellings and commercial buildings in these districts. A beekeeper in Key Largo's Native Area district or a Big Pine Key lot zoned Suburban Residential can install hives without first going through the minor or major conditional use process set out in Chapter 110, Article III that many other uses in these same districts must follow.