Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 7-29 Identification of apiary

The unregulated and improper keeping of bees and apiaries in the county has become a nuisance and a hazard to the safety of landowners, road users and the public generally.

This article shall in all respects be construed to supplement and harmonize with the provisions of law of the state pertaining to bees and the beekeeping industry.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Any word or phrase hereinafter used in this article and not herein defined shall be given the meaning established for such word or phrase by the California Agricultural Code as it now is or may hereafter be amended. Whenever in this article the term "commissioner" is used, it shall mean the county agricultural commissioner or designee and regularly appointed employees of the county department of agriculture acting pursuant to his instructions.

Whenever in this article the term "fire chief" is used, it shall mean and include the county fire chief, the state forester, the district rangers and officers and foresters of the United States government or any of their deputies and employees, and the chief engineer or fire chief or chief executive officer of any fire district, or any of their deputies and employees.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Every person owning an apiary located on premises other than where he resides shall identify such apiary as is now provided or hereafter may be provided by the laws of the state.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

The commissioner and fire chief or designee are hereby empowered to enter upon any premises where bees are kept, or upon which they have reason to believe that bees are kept, in order to carry into effect the provisions of this article, respectively enforceable by each.

It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with the official actions of the commissioner or fire chief.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

No person shall place or keep an apiary, or cause to allow an apiary to remain so close to a public or private road used by the public as to constitute a nuisance or hazard to persons using such road. Except when pollinating crops, no apiary shall be located within three hundred feet of a property line or road.

No person shall place or keep an apiary, or cause or allow an apiary, to remain closer than six hundred feet to any building used as a dwelling other than buildings owned by such person, without the permission of the occupant of such building.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

No person shall place or keep an apiary, or cause or allow an apiary to remain on land not owned or possessed by such person without first obtaining the written permission of the owner or person lawfully in possession of such land.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Except in case of an emergency, hives of bees being transported on public roads or highways at a time when the bees are flying shall have the bees substantially confined by screens or other means to the vehicle by which the bees are being transported.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Every apiary shall be provided with water by the apiary owner at the time that the set is made, and such water shall be maintained by the apiary owner so long as the apiary stays on such property, unless the landowner gives written permission for the apiary to use water situated on the land where the apiary is located.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Any person owning, leasing, controlling, operating or maintaining any apiary in, upon or adjoining any hazardous fire area, and any person owning, leasing or controlling any land adjacent to such apiary shall at all times:

(a) Maintain around and adjacent to such apiary an effective firebreak made by removing and clearing away, for a distance therefrom of not less than thirty feet on each side thereof, all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth. This article shall not apply to single specimens of trees, ornamental shrubbery or similar plants used as ground covers; provided, that they do not form a means of rapidly transmitting fire from the native growth to any structure.

(b) Maintain around and adjacent to any such apiary additional fire protection or firebreak made by removing all brush, flammable vegetation, or combustible growth located from thirty feet to one hundred feet from such apiary as may be required by the fire chief when he finds that because of extra hazardous conditions a firebreak of only thirty feet around such apiaries is not sufficient to provide reasonable fire safety. Grass and other vegetation located more than thirty feet from such apiary and less than eighteen inches in height above the ground may be maintained where necessary to stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.

No person shall use any lighted or smoldering material in connection with smoking bees except by the authority of a written permit from the fire chief.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)

Any person who violates any provisions of this article may be served with a written notice to cease or remedy such violation by the commissioner. Any person who violates the fire provisions of this article may be served with a written notice to cease or remedy such violation by the fire chief. Such notice shall require that such person cease or remedy the violation within forty-eight hours. Any person who fails to cease or remedy the violation within such forty-eight-hour period is guilty of a misdemeanor. The notices required by this section shall be served personally on such person or, if he cannot be readily found, shall be served by mail, return receipt requested; or, if he cannot be served by mail, then service shall be accomplished by posting a notice in a conspicuous place on or near the apiary where the violation occurred. The forty-eight-hour period for which such notices provide shall commence to run from the time on the day a notice is served pursuant to this section.

(Ord. No. 4948, 11-17-2015)