By Jonathan Goetz
Photo: Members of the San Diego Beekeeping Society at Lemon Grove City Council Meeting 5/17/16 (left to right) Carlos Richardson, Mark Kukuchek, Rebecca Wolniewicz, Daryl Hern, Neyl Montesano
May 21, 2016 (Lemon Grove) -- Lemon Grove is one step closer towards simplifying its beekeeping regulations. Half a dozen members of the San Diego Beekeeping Society gave testimony to the Lemon Grove Council on Tuesday in an attempt to address common fears about bee hives.
“When I find an aggressive hive, I insert a new docile queen to make the hive less aggressive. Good beekeeping keeps our communities safe,” Carlos Richardson told Council members and the public.
The revisions would allow permitted hives 25 feet from streets and neighboring dwellings as opposed to the current 100 feet restriction. It also institutes a new designation of sensitive site for places such as schools and homes where a resident has provided documentation to the city of a severe bee allergy. Sensitive sites would warrant the 100 feet restriction. Two council members shared their own experience with bees.
“My mother-in-law, if she gets stung by a bee she’s got an EpiPen and the whole nine yards,” Councilmember Jerry Jones said during deliberations. “So we just have to tell residents that we have this new ordinance and it is going to allow for bees and if you are sensitive to bees to notice the city and no permits will be issued.”
Councilmember Jennifer Mendoza spoke of a chance discovery of a bee hive within her own home. “Ten years ago a swarm of bees got between a rolled up window in my house and a board. We found during the remodel this whole swarm that had built a hive and everything in my house and we hadn’t even known it was there.”
The two primary concerns voiced by the Beekeeping Society were the permit fee, initially $75, and the requirement for permit applicants to notify their neighbors. “My next door neighbor has a tree that we’re always arguing about, and if I needed his permission, I would never receive a permit,” Rebecca Wolniewicz told Council members as she encouraged them to drop the requirement that permit applicants provide written notice to their neighbors.
Ultimately, the Council directed staff to reduce the permit fee from $75 to $35 and eliminate the neighbor notification requirements. Instead, Lemon Grove residents with severe bee allergies are asked to notify the City and their home will be designated as a sensitive site. Eliminating the neighbor notification requirement was extremely important to the San Diego Beekeeping Society as Lemon Grove would have been the first jurisdiction in San Diego County to impose such a requirement.
The Council extended public comment to its June 21st meeting, when council members will vote on the final ordinance.