Yucaipa, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Chapter 6.18 of the Yucaipa Municipal Code supplements and harmonizes with California law on bees and the beekeeping industry (§ 6.18.020). The Yucaipa City Council adopted it in Ordinance 182 in 1998 after finding that the unregulated and improper keeping of bees in numerous locations had in some instances become a nuisance and a hazard (§ 6.18.010). Section 6.18.025 sets location rules for all apiaries owned or kept in the city: one hundred (100) feet from the traveled portion of public roads other than freeways unless natural barriers prevent a nuisance or hazard, two hundred (200) feet from freeways, and five hundred (500) feet from the nearest house or building inhabited as a dwelling unless the owner first gets permission from the occupant. Apiaries near school yards or places where people congregate must sit behind barriers that cause bees to fly at a high altitude over the area.

Water is mandatory (§ 6.18.030): a plentiful fresh supply must be available at all times, or, if no stream or reservoir qualifies, a watering place within one hundred (100) yards of the apiary. The code enforcement officer can require relocation under § 6.18.025(D) when substantial numbers of bees from an apiary enter other land and endanger public health, safety or welfare, or cause property damage. Notice goes by registered mail, return receipt requested, and is posted on or near the apiary, with the forty-eight (48) hour clock starting once both are done (§ 6.18.035). The chapter prints distances and nuisance triggers, not a hive-count cap.