Panel to give Council recommendation on permit/no permit issue

Benicia Planning Commission will decide Thursday whether to recommend approval of changes to city law that would allow residents to keep honeybees within the city limits.

In a March 30 report, special counsel Mark Boehme told the commission that a 2007 update of the city animal control ordinance restricted beekeeping to open space zones only.

Since then, some residents and organizations, such as Benicia Community Gardens, have asked that urban beekeeping be allowed in residential areas.

The City Council asked staff Jan. 20 to draft a simplified ordinance that would set standards for the practice, including some members’ request of a version requiring a permit be obtained by prospective beekeepers, Boehme wrote.

“Staff decided to draft two ordinances, one not requiring a permit but requiring minimum standards and best beekeeping practices,” he wrote. “The other ordinance implements a beekeeping permit process.”

He wrote that city employees have asked the commission to recommend the Council adopt the ordinance that requires no permit, as “Staffing constraints would make administration of a permit system burdensome, (and) add additional costs to the city as well to the beekeeping community.”

The current requirement that limits apiaries to open space zones doesn’t prevent others from having bees for educational purposes, nor within a physician’s office or in laboratories where they can be used for research, treatment and other scientific purposes — though in those cases, bees are not allowed to fly free.

By state law, any beekeeper is required to register apiaries with the Solano County Agricultural Commissioner’s office each Jan. 31, or within 30 days of the apiary’s arrival, Boehme wrote, adding that the California Food and Agriculture Code sets requirements about where hives may be situated and how they are to be identified.

The county agriculture office lists a few “nuisance issues” related to beekeeping that county codes don’t address, he wrote: the number of hives on a piece of property, access to water, neighbors’ concerns, occasional aggression and limited enforcement in cases of abandoned or poorly maintained hives. County officials have recommended cities deal with those issues in their own codes, he wrote.

The Napa County Beekeepers’ Association, the closest beekeeping group to Benicia, has published “Best Management Practices for Beekeeping in Napa County,” a 2012 document that is consistent with other “best management” practices in other areas of the United States, Boehme wrote.

The drafts the commission will examine Thursday include some of that document’s language, he added.

Either of the proposed ordinances would let residents keep bees in all zoning districts, but would forbid them in apartment complexes, mobile home parks, condominiums or common-interest developments that are not made up of single-family homes.

Up to three colonies would be allowed on lots up to a quarter-acre, or 10,890 square feet. Five colonies would be allowed on lots between a quarter- and a half-acre, and seven would be allowed on lots between a half- and 1 acre in size. No more than 10 colonies would be allowed on an acre.

A beekeeper would be required to maintain and control an apiary in ways that would prevent swarming or aggressive bee behavior; to provide adequate water for the bees so they wouldn’t have to search for it elsewhere; and to register apiaries with the Solano County Agricultural Commissioner’s office.

Each apiary would be made up of moveable comb hives kept in good condition and would be situated behind screening 6 feet tall and built so bee flyways would be directed away from neighbors and the public.

The city’s animal control director and code enforcement officers would be in charge of enforcing the ordinance, Boehme wrote.

Even if the commission and the Council prefer to require a permit for beekeeping, none would be required in open space areas that meet those requirements. Others would apply with the police chief, who is Benicia’s director of animal services. Notice of the application would be posted within 500 feet of the boundaries of the site, and if it is granted it would apply to the individual applicant, not to the land.

Anyone violating the city’s requirement could have his or her permit modified or revoked, Boehme wrote.

In other matters under consideration Thursday, the commission will be asked to recommend the Council approve an ordinance amendment that would eliminate discrepancies and clarify verbiage in the city’s Zoning Ordinance.

The panel also will receive open government training and elect officers.

The Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in Council Chambers of City Hall, 250 East L St.