STAFF PRESENTATION:
Peter Wysocki, Planning Director gave a presentation about bee hives.
QUESTIONS:
Commissioner Graham asked what rationale to removing the enforcement language. Mr. Wysocki stated there were no standards previously and they we relied on the word nuisance. Regarding bees there is no definition of what nuisance is and how can you prove something was caused by a particular bee hive, bee, or swarm of bees and enforce that. The removal was partially for enforceability and we’re establishing standards with this ordinance. The majority of the city will fall under the standard of two bee hives.
Commissioner Markewich stated his primary concern as Commissioner Graham stated was about the removal of the enforcement language. Do other jurisdictions have some of that of language? Mr. Wysocki stated he looked specifically at some type of formal urban farming or urban agricultural zoning where some of the bee hive ordinances or regulations are a part of the code. He hadn’t researched the respective codes of those cities any other nuisance sections of code and he didn’t know if they had the ability to enforce nuisance or injurious to adjoining properties with other parts of their codes sections. Those codes pertaining to that weren’t prevalent instead it went into the standards regarding size, flyaway barriers, and fresh water were the top three standards he noticed.
Commissioner Markewich stated he was comfortable with all the other the other language in the ordinance and asked if alternative language would allow code enforcement to handle complaints. Mr. Wysocki stated the ordinance language could be bolstered with more descriptive words. However, since he’s been here there’s been no complaints to Neighborhood Services or Code Enforcement for this. He can understand his concern and with some more language it could give code officers some guidance on how to handle a situation. Commissioner Markewich stated without the language in there he’s voting against it.
City Attorney Smith asked Commissioner Markewich what was he looking for as far as what a nuisance or is injurious to the surrounding neighborhood. If a zoning enforcement action was done, and appealed, it would come before you as the Planning Commission. To determine what is a nuisance or injurious would be a tough thing to come up with and that’s why these specific standards are being put in place. What this is saying is if this doesn’t meet these requirements that is what is determined to be a nuisance and what is injurious.
Commissioner Markewich stated he wants a mechanism to allow it to be handled in this forum instead of forcing residents into hiring a lawyer and go to court. City Attorney Smith asked Commissioner Markewich what type of situation would constitute that situation happening? What we currently have are specific standards proposed and there are no standards right now.
Commissioner Markewich stated from his experience there really aren’t issues and Mr. Wysocki stated there have not been any complaints. But if a home owner gets a hive and the next day a child next door gets stung and they are allergic to bees there could be a cause or link there. He’d say research it and see what other cities are doing that that fits his concern or maybe some of the expert beekeepers have a suggestion.
City Attorney Smith said if there was some type of civil action and someone was injured that isn’t handled by our zoning code. If someone was injured and was allergic that would normally be a private cause of action. Mr. Wysocki said they could work with the City Attorney’s Office to come up with something that narrows that definition of nuisance or injurious before going to City Council.
Commissioner Walkowski stated his concern would be health if someone was allergic and a bee hives was placed next to their property. He wasn’t sure how you’d handle it but the health concern would be his issue.
Commissioner Raughton asked where beekeeping is allowed. Mr. Wysocki stated only in residential zoned property.
Mr. Wysocki discussed the Samuelson project that it had bees as part of their project but it was a 400 acre area within the city limits at the southeast corner of Shoop Rd and Highway 83 that was zoned agriculture.
Commissioner Markewich stated he supports this but the zone change requirements are where he sees it not working and they are: the action will not be detrimental to public interest, health, safety, convenience or general welfare. That’s broad in how we determine it would be an inconvenience to a neighbor. From a code standpoint we need some other language.
Mr. Wysocki stated from all brochures, pamphlets, and website he visited this is a very well self-regulated industry. Those with bee hives go through the due diligence to educate themselves and understand how bees behave. He believes this will be self-regulated, self-monitored, and those with the hives will be good neighbors and not jeopardize their ability to have the bee hives if it really was injurious to adjoining properties.
SUPPORTERS:
Mike Halby, Secretary of Pikes Peak Beekeepers association. Listening to the concerns you raise. He addressed bee’s behavior. Honey bees sting one time and then flies away and dies. Honey bees are not aggressive by nature. If they are around people, it’s generally women who wear perfume and that are floral based. The biggest behavior when around bees is do not swat at them.
They do a lot of educational presentations throughout the area. Getting along with their neighbors is a large concern the bee association has. They have guidelines they recommend to their members about placement of their bee hives and for new beekeepers they will have a more experience bee keep go to their property and suggest locations. The general guideline is to be as far away as possible from your neighbors’ property line as possible. He’s had Code Enforcement visit him one time in 17 years of beekeeping. The complaint was the bees were swarming his hummingbird feeders. The code enforcement officer noticed the hummingbird feeders in their yard had no bees and that’s because hummingbird feeders’ nectar is too weak for the bees to want it. When they feed their bees it’s 1-part sugar to 1-part water and hummingbird feeders is 4-parts water to 1-part sugar. If they are there, they’re looking for a water source. Responsible beekeepers put out a water source for their bees. Their bee keepers are very responsive to neighbor’s complaints. We try to make sure it’s mediated between the beekeeper and the complaining neighbor without getting code and law enforcement involved.
Rebecca Sunderland, President of Pikes Peak Beekeepers Association and the Secretary of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association showed a picture of how aggressive honey bees were while she was removing their honey and if they were to get aggressive this would be that time they’d do that and they were not attacking or swarming at all.
Ms. Sunderland addressed the question if there being beehives in other areas other than residential areas and there are. We have them at the zoo, Bear Creek Nature Center and please note these two areas have a lot of children and people and we’ve had no problems. We have them on top of the Broadmoor and the Mining Exchange Building. She address the concern about children that are deathly allergic to bees. Beekeepers have problems with hornets, wasps, yellow jackets and all of those can be aggressive. So if people say they got stung we ask was it a bee, a wasp, a yellow jacket and they may not know. All they know is they were stung. It could be a problem proving it was a bee that stung you and not one of these others.
Another question she gets is what about Africanized bees? It won’t happen here they can’t tolerate our weather.
Sabrina Cotta, Legislative Assistant for the City Council spoke about the concerns about the restriction language. She’s done a lot of research with a lot of communities in the United States and she’s not found any language that speaks to the nuisance of bees mostly because of what the beekeepers have said, it would hard to prove if it was a bee, a wasp, hornet or yellow jacket. It would be setting up Code Enforcement for failure to have that language. Currently we allow one bee hive so to have one additional bee hive we’re putting in a lot of restrictions on bee keepers to ensure they’re good neighbors and we can make sure the bee hives are placed in an appropriate place. We also have a commitment to sustainability through the Food Policy Advisory Board. Bees are very important and the ordinance will allow for more bees within the city which is important for our food system. This is supported by the Food Policy Advisory Board and Council so they’d appreciate moving for with the ordinance with the language as it is.
Opponents: None
QUESTIONS:
Commissioner Henninger asked if there is a standard for a rating or classification for Colorado Springs in relationship to the bee business would it be better or worse area is it average area or any type of national rating. Ms. Sunderland said there’s no national rating. This a good area for bees to make honey due to the nectar friendly plants native to this area, especially the Linden Trees.
Mr. Halby stated El Paso County Extension Service did a survey/study in the last 2-3 years and determined 90% of stings in El Paso County were due to yellow jackets or wasps not honey bees.
Mr. Wysocki said if adopted by council they’ll provide some pamphlets and information they can provide through the Planning Office or the Neighborhood Services Office and if CONO is willing to help to educate their staff and affected HOA’s If covenants says beekeeping is prohibited by the HOA they are not allowed then they couldn’t have one.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION OF PLANNING COMMISSION:
Commissioner Raughton stated Linden Trees have the highest oxygen replacement rate of all the trees that are used. He is fully supportive of the ordinance.
Commissioner Markewich stated generally support of the ordinance and wanted to poll the other commissioners about adding a condition that staff should come up with some sort of language to allow Code Enforcement to get involved if there was a controversy. Commissioner/Chair McDonald said it’s not necessary. There’s standard put in place for beekeeping that they have if something should become an issue.
Commissioner Walkowski said he had a lot of his questions answered about language and he’s not sure how they could draft something that could be enforceable or even worthwhile going through that effort. He is in support of the proposal as is.
Commissioner Henninger he sees no reason to add what we have and will be in support of the item.
Commissioner Graham stated he initially had similar concerns as Commissioner Markewich but after listening to city attorney for how we would defend this he saw no need to add any language to the ordinance.