Winter Haven, FL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

The City of Winter Haven's Unified Land Development Code treats bee keeping as a 'limited agricultural use,' a defined category of land uses that are agricultural in character but sit inside otherwise residential zoning districts. Sec. 21-35(d)(1), governing the RE, Residential Estate district, states that limited agricultural uses permitted there include orchards, vineyards, nurseries, ornamental horticulture areas, groves, noncommercial greenhouses, bee keeping and raising of exotic species other than venomous reptiles. The RE district itself caps residential density at two dwelling units per gross acre and requires a minimum 21,750-square-foot lot, so a beekeeper in this zone is typically working a large residential parcel rather than a subdivision lot.

The identical limited-agricultural-use clause appears again at Sec. 20-dwelling-unit-per-acre density cap alongside full commercial agricultural uses like row crops, livestock and dairying. Neither section sets a numeric hive-count limit, a minimum lot size specific to apiaries, or a required setback for hives; the only structural setbacks that apply are the district's general accessory-structure and swimming-pool setbacks in Table 21-35 and Sec. 21-102. Winter Haven's Planning Division reviews whether a proposed use qualifies as a permitted limited agricultural use during any building or accessory-structure permit review.

Property outside city limits in unincorporated Polk County falls under the county's own land development code, not this ordinance, so a Winter Haven mailing address does not guarantee this rule applies.