Watsonville, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Section 6-1.507 of the Watsonville Municipal Code opens with a prohibition: no person shall keep or maintain any hive of bees in the City except as authorized under Chapter 28 of Title 14 and under two stated conditions. First, no more than two (2) hives on any one lot or parcel of land. Second, no hive within twenty-five (25) feet of any dwelling and 100 feet of any property line of the lot or parcel on which it sits. For that second condition, the front property line means the sidewalk boundary farthest from the street, not the curb.

Zoning supplies the authorization. Section 14-28.050 provides that in any R-District not more than two (2) hives of bees can be kept on any lot, and that no hive can be kept or maintained closer than twenty-five (25) feet from any dwelling or place of business. The zoning text prints the dwelling and place-of-business distance only, while § 6-1.507(b) prints the 100 foot property-line distance, and both sections stay in the Code. A beekeeper in the City of Watsonville therefore has to meet the hive count, the twenty-five (25) foot distance and the 100 foot property-line distance together. Neither section prints an exception, a permit or a fee for a hive.

Enforcement runs through the animal chapter. The Director of Animal Control, the executive director of the Santa Cruz County Animal Services Authority while the City is a member, administers Chapter 1 of Title 6, and the Animal Shelter General Manager or a Control Officer can issue an administrative citation to any person violating the title. Under § 1-2.01, any condition in violation of the Code is deemed a public nuisance the City can abate, and each day the condition continues is a new and separate offense.