I am not sure what dept you would contact, if your property has cover, trees , plants you can "hide" the hives you may be alright, just remember outa site out of mind.

Good Luck

I had an uncle in Vancouver who kept bees in his back yard for years. As long as they have to fly fairly high to get out of the yard no one will know. He had quite a high wooden fence so the bees never flew directly into any neighbours yards.Worked well for him and by the way he never did get permission. He knew they would have said NO!!

The best bet for finding out what your city regulations are is to call one of the city departments that sounds like it might know something. Even if they don't, they will probably give you the right number to call, or at least a number that will get you closer to someone who knows.

I live in Northern California in an agricultural area, so the city regulations are pretty liberal about what I can keep on my suburban property--basically, anything but bees. Why bees are prohibited, I don't know. I've spoken with local beekeepers and the way they *say* they get around the ordinance is to build a platform that is at roof height. They keep their hives on that platform. Apparently, that takes the hives outside of the city limits. This may or may not be true, so check your facts with an authoritative source before committing to any plan.

At the SABA Conference in Albany yesterday, Dennis Vanenglesdorp said that the three biggest enemies of bees and beekeepers are Varroa Mites,City Ordinances against beekeeping and loss of habitat.
The idea of using platforms gets the bees up in the air a little so you or your neighbors are not in the line of flight. Taht way you are less likely to have problems with anyone being bothered by them.