Marin County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Marin County Code § 16.16.060 (Fire Code Appx. A § 104.13)
- Adopting ordinance
- Ord. No. 3837, § III, 2025
- Restricted act
- Smoking bees with lit/smoldering material
- Where restricted
- Designated hazardous fire areas only
- Permit issuer
- Fire Prevention Bureau Fire Code Official
- First-offense penalty
- $150 civil penalty plus inspection costs
- Repeat offense
- Misdemeanor/infraction within 12 months
Summary
Marin County does not zone or cap backyard hives; the Development Code simply lists beekeeping as an allowed agricultural production use. The county's real regulatory bite lands in the Fire Code: inside a designated hazardous fire area, no one may use lighted or smoldering material to smoke bees without a permit from the Fire Code Official.
Section A104.13 is hereby added to Appendix A of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and shall read as follows: Section 104.13 APAIRIES. Lighted or smoldering material shall not be used in connection with smoking bees in or upon hazardous fire areas except by permit from the Fire Code Official.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 2026 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
030), alongside livestock, poultry, and crop farming, so it is regulated the same way as any other agricultural use allowed in agricultural and rural zoning districts, with no separate hive-count, setback, or registration standard in this file. The operative beekeeping-specific rule instead sits in the Fire Code. 16 (Marin County Amendments to the 2024 International Fire Code and the 2025 California Fire Code, and the 2024 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code) was amended by Ordinance No. 13 to Appendix A of the Wildland-Urban Interface Code.
13 APAIRIES" and bars using lighted or smoldering material to smoke bees inside a hazardous fire area unless the Fire Prevention Bureau's Fire Code Official first issues a permit. Hazardous fire areas are the same zones where the Fire Code separately requires 100 feet of defensible-space clearance around structures and bans unpermitted open fires, explosives, and tracer rounds, so the smoking-bees permit sits alongside a cluster of ignition-source controls the county applies specifically where wildfire risk is highest, not countywide.
Violations & Fines
Smoking bees with a lit or smoldering torch or smoker inside a hazardous fire area without a Fire Code Official permit is a Fire Code violation. Under Marin County Code Section 16.16.070, a first citation for a Fire Code violation within a twelve-month period is treated as a civil penalty of $150 plus the actual costs of inspections needed to gain compliance, while any subsequent citation within that twelve-month period is charged as a misdemeanor or infraction, with each day a violation continues after final notice counting as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Marin County require a permit to keep bees in unincorporated areas?
Can I smoke my beehives during fire season in Marin County?
Who enforces the bee-smoking permit rule?
What is the penalty for smoking bees without a permit in a hazardous fire area?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Marin County
California rules heatmap·Compare Marin County to another location·View the California animal ordinances overview
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