Gardens members, others call for end to city’s apiary restrictions

To bee or not to bee — that’s the question staff members and others are hoping the City Council will answer Tuesday.

In a report filed Monday, acting police Chief Joseph Kreins wrote that in December 2007, the Council updated its city code to address animals, and in doing so banned beekeeping except in the open space (OS) zoning district.

Since then, individual residents and, most recently, Benicia Community Gardens members have asked that the ban be reconsidered.

In response, the Council asked employees to draft a work plan outlining how the prohibition could be modified or overturned, and how much work would be involved.

Kreins wrote that he doesn’t have an exact dollar amount for the work needed to revise the city code, but he estimated it could take 40 hours of staff time to draft the ordinance, prepare accompanying reports and conduct community and public meetings. He also estimated $2,000 would be needed for a contract city attorney’s time.

“If the City Council were to adopt a comprehensive urban beekeeping ordinance, it will result in budget impacts to police and fire budgets related to animal control and code enforcement,” he wrote. “Those impacts cannot be determined now because the amount of staff time required to administer and enforce the ordinance is dependent on what regulatory and permitting requirements are adopted by the city.”

Kreins outlined a schedule that would start after the adoption of the 2015-17 budget, which is expected to be in place by July 1.

He recommended a review and analysis of beekeeping ordinances from such communities as Napa and Vallejo, and consideration whether an animal keeper permit or license should be required.

Among other variables, he wrote, the Council must consider location, density and maintenance of colonies, including flyaway barriers as well as registration, licensing, training and permitting.

While staff is gathering information on the topic, the city should hear from the Solano County Agricultural Commission and set aside time for its police and animal control, community development and zoning, fire and code enforcement employees to weigh in on the matter, Kreins wrote.

He suggested one or two community workshops in August, and that a draft ordinance be sent to the Council in September.

Another alternative, Kreins wrote, would be to repeal the current prohibition against beekeeping in other districts and allow the use by right. But he didn’t see that as “a viable alternative because of the need to address county regulatory requirements and, at a minimum, establish some use regulations to ensure that the location and density of the colonies are compatible with a residential neighborhood environment.”

But he added, “It is important to note that to date, there have been no formal complaints regarding illegal beekeeping in the community.”

While bee advocates are seeking to make such hive-keeping legal, “there is no urgent reason to do so at this time, in relation to the city’s other pressing fiscal and economic development priorities.”

On the other hand, he wrote, “Placing it on the Council’s priority list would at least give the proponents some reassurance that the city has programmed the project for future action.”

One longtime bee advocate, Gretchen Burgess, is hoping the city won’t delay much longer.

Burgess was a member of the panel that helped craft the 2007 ordinance that ended up outlawing most bee hives. It’s something she’s been trying to correct ever since. “I’m trying to rectify an old wrong of mine,” she said, explaining that she has appeared before the Council a few times to discuss the issue.

She said the city used Riverside County’s ordinance as a template for the 2007 action, and in going through 54 pages of law, she missed that it would ban beekeeping.

Even then, the matter might not have become such a concern if, a year later, many became aware of the spread of the death of bees through colony collapse disorder.

Hives normally would dwindle somewhat in fall and spring, but beginning in late 2006, European beekeepers began noticing a dramatic rise in bee losses, with some hives losing up to 90 percent of their bees.

By 2013, hive collapse was being blamed for about half the loss of honeybee hives, a significant increase above the 33 percent in losses through hive collapses reported in previous years.

The situation motivated the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to form a task force on the topic, and while some causes are suspected, from mites and fungus to use of antibiotics and pesticides, no specific factor has been pinpointed.

Burgess has been trying to convince the Council to restore the opportunity for local beekeeping, making two points.

One is that no matter whether Benicians keep hives, the city has bees, both honey and other types. Her other point is that without bees, people will have little to eat.

Bees have a three-mile flying range, Burgess said. “Benicia is full of bees,” she said.

Wild bees make hives where they please, she said, including a friend’s front porch, where the hive was so large Burgess’s friend was forced to use her back door as her entrance while she sought someone to remove the bees.

Without available local beekeepers, that can be a problem, Burgess said, since they would be the local experts in handling the insects. Eventually, the friend found a keeper who removed the colony at no cost, installing it in a hive of his own and giving the woman some fresh-made honey as a bonus, Burgess said.

But just as important, bees are pollinators, and are essential to food production. Without them, “you have no fruit, no vegetables and no grains,” she said. Without those essentials, there also are no animals.

“Without that insect, we’re not eating,” she said.

Another bonus to allowing beekeepers to operate locally is they are a resource for the community, Burgess said. If people don’t like bees, keepers can advise them how to plant their yards to repel the insects. On the other hand, if people like bees, they can be told what bee-friendly plants are available.Elena Karoulina, who leads Benicia Community Gardens, said participants in the nonprofit are well aware of the importance of bees and how essential they are not only to the city’s two existing community gardens, but to local expansion into the holistic agricultural method called permaculture and community orchards.

She said she also is aware of the medical use of bees, in treating arthritis and more serious illnesses with the use of live bees, as well as the medicinal uses of honey.

That’s why she has been asking the Council to overturn the ban, and why she urged the city to use the Napa law as a template for a new ordinance here.

“It’s ridiculous to have the prohibition,” Karoulina said. “We have to do something.”

One of the goals of Benicia Community Gardens is food security, a topic Karoulina said the Council has not addressed well. “Unfortunately, it’s not a high priority,” she said.

She said she has heard municipal arguments that staff time is limited, and that is why she said her organization researched various ordinances and sent the city a copy of Napa’s law. “It’s a security blanket. It limits the size and number of hives.”

Though the topic is before the Council Tuesday night, Karoulina said she fears a new ordinance to allow beekeeping will be put on the backburner again, along with other food security issues.

“In five years, it could be too late,” she said.

The Council will meet with the Economic Development Board at 6 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall to review a draft of a Benicia Industrial Park market study.

The regular Council meeting will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Council Chambers of City Hall, 250 East L St.