Brewcat, Some great informational web-sites are www.honey.com and www.nhb.org Check your local city or county ordinances for beekeeping laws in your area.There is a nuisance law set up in some areas for just this. I kept bees (one hive) in my back yard and never had a complaint, I gave honey to all my neighboors but never told them about the hive in the yard. We had a small garden and my wife fussed at me, every so often on of "my girs" would get tangled in her hair or just get a little contankerious but no real harm came. I can still out run my wife. One of the things you can do is place the hive entrance about 4' from a tall fence, you have heard of "in a bee line", bees fly in a straight line so if they have to fly over say a 6' fence they will be above most folks heads when they level off. Facing them off to an empty track is a good start. Find a local beekeeping club and join, the fellowship is great and you can learn a lot from the other beekeepers. The state Apiarist is also a good person to talk to about clubs in your area as well as laws that may or may not prohibit you from keeping bees in town. Now the scary part. There is a lot of controversy with some insurances and law suites if somebody gets stung, say a child is playing in the area and chases a ball into your yard and gets stung. I don't want to disucurage you but these are things you have to consider. Some body gets stung and goes into anaphylactic(sp)? shock and dies, not good. It's different state to state. Hope this info helps, it seems that you are headed in the right direction.
Steve