Newport News, VA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

City Code § 45-518 lists beehives among the accessory uses "customarily incidental to residential uses," alongside small domesticated animals and residential swimming pools. That classification matters: an accessory use is allowed by right, so a Newport News resident does not need a conditional use permit or a hearing before the board of zoning appeals to keep hobby bees, only compliance with the siting standards in subsection (2). The hive itself must be at least 3 feet from an adjoining property line, and at least 50 feet from any house, dwelling unit, apartment, hotel, motel, office, commercial establishment, place of worship or school, except the beekeeper's own home is exempt from that 50-foot buffer.

The section also makes water access mandatory: the keeper must provide, or have access to, an adequate water supply within 50 feet of each hive, aimed at keeping foraging bees away from neighbors' pools, bird baths and hose bibs. The exemption applies only to hives "maintained as a hobby for household use and non-commercial purposes"; a beekeeping operation that sells honey, bees or hive products commercially falls outside § 45-518(2) and would need to be evaluated under the applicable zoning district's use table rather than as an accessory use.

Because beehives are regulated through the accessory-use section of the zoning ordinance rather than a stand-alone permit article, enforcement runs through the same zoning administrator complaint and civil-penalty process that covers other accessory-use violations under § 45-3501, including a written notice of violation with a minimum three-day cure period before a summons issues.