Update 10/15/2025 from the City of Santa Rosa:

Letter from Conner McKay, City of Santa Rosa Senior Planner

Hello beekeepers and beekeeping enthusiasts in Santa Rosa and neighboring communities!

I am writing to introduce myself and provide an update on the status of the City of Santa Rosa's draft Beekeeping Ordinance that would allow and regulate beekeeping on residential properties within Santa Rosa city limits. 

My name is Conor McKay and I am a Senior Planner with the Planning Division of the City of Santa Rosa. I am leading the effort of drafting the Beekeeping Ordinance. In late August, the City met with Cheryl and Andy from the Sonoma County Beekeeper's Association to discuss best practices for beekeeping and explore beekeeping ordinances of other Sonoma County and statewide jurisdictions. 

Our first draft of the Ordinance is currently under development. We anticipate distributing the first public draft in Winter 2026, which will be an opportunity for community members to submit comments about the draft beekeeping regulations. The Ordinance will establish standards for several aspects of the practice, including but not limited to: 

• Hive placement and maintenance;
• Colony limits based on lot size;
• Measures to reduce conflicts with neighboring properties; and
• Guidelines for small-scale honey sales.

Please reach out with any questions or if you would like to discuss. I have reviewed all of the comment letters in support of beekeeping that were submitted this summer when the City was considering a Zoning Code Interpretation to prohibit beekeeping, and formed this distribution list from those letters. If you know of anyone that would be interested in receiving periodic updates about Santa Rosa's Beekeeping Ordinance, please encourage them to subscribe to this mailing list using the following link: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CASANTA/subscriber/new?topic_id=CASANTA_300

The project webpage for the Beekeeping Ordinance can be found here: https://www.srcity.org/4268/Beekeeping-Ordinance. 
Thank you all for your interest and participation in this process! I am looking forward to presenting our Beekeeping Ordinance to the City Council for consideration sometime next year. 

Update 8/6/2025 from the City of Santa Rosa:

After further review and consultations with the City Attorney’s office, they are finding that the language in the City’s Municipal Code does not allow beekeeping.  Given the amount of public response in favor of beekeeping in the city of Santa Rosa, they are moving forward to initiate an amendment to the code to create language necessary to allow beekeeping. This process will take 6-8 months which will include time to research what is needed to develop a draft ordinance as well as working with SCBA.  Once a draft is completed there will be community outreach and a public hearing. 

We will continue to provide updates as we get them.

Update 8/1/2025:

At this time SCBA is not writing a new beekeeping ordinance. We wish for the current ordinance to be interpreted in the way it has been for decades, in that beekeeping is allowed in Santa Rosa and will/should continue as such. This interpretation conditionally allowed outside of commercial or nuisance contexts. This is dependent on the interpretation of the current code.

SCBA respects the City’s permissive zoning framework but believe it must be applied with consistency. The city of Santa Rosa has chosen to regulate—not ban—beekeeping in multiple code sections. That means beekeeping is not absent. It is acknowledged. We are asking for a reasonable interpretation: that non-commercial, non-nuisance beekeeping is not prohibited under current zoning. This aligns with the City’s past practices, current code language, and General Plan values.

If the city decides to interpret that beekeeping is not allowed, we will need our communities support in contacting city council members to ask them to bring this to a council meeting agenda.

More to come, when we have it... 

Direct questions to SCBA President, Cheryl Koeller, at president@sonomabees.org

UPDATE 7/10/25: 

The agenda item referencing Urban Beekeeping in Santa Rosa scheduled for the July 17 Zoning Administration Meeting has been postponed while city officials continue to do research. 

Thank you to everyone who has sent in letters, emails, and made phones calls. Thank you also to the Santa Rosa City Council and those at the Santa Rosa City Ordinance office for listening to our concerns and taking time to deal with this complicated situation.

This situation is constantly evolving, and we will update as we know more information.

The issue

• Santa Rosa's zoning code currently does not list beekeeping as a "permitted use".
• A formal zoning code interpretation is being prepared to determine if non-commercial beekeeping is allowed.
• The city has cited restrictions that apply only in certain contexts (eg commercial use, or nuisances) - not beekeeping in general.

The SCBA disagrees with any interpretation that prohibits non-commercial beekeeping.  Our position is outlined in detail here.

We believe that:

• Beekeeping is not prohibited in the code;
• Exceptions exist that support our interpretation;
• The code should not be changed—we are not asking for new language, only a correct understanding of what's already there.

More info on the similarities and consistency between beekeeping and the existing zoning rules can be found here.

We believe that responsible, small-scale urban beekeeping should be allowed.  Honey bees are a vital pollinator that support gardens, native plants and food systems. City staff and the zoning administrator are reviewing this issue now.  Public input can help shape how beekeeping is interpreted and supported. 

Meeting info

Zoning Administrator Meeting:
Thursday, July 17, 2025
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

AGENDA ITEM POSTPONED: We will update when we know more information

Next steps

We will keep you all updated here as this progresses.