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Community Corner

Banned Beehives

The village banned beehive ownership in Skokie last night.  The mayor and the board of trustees congratulated themselves on making a good will effort at a compromise that ensures each side of the controversy gets something.  It is not a good will effort.  It is a politically motivated effort to get the beehive issue off the agenda and give the mayor and the board kudos for doing a good job.  I think it stinks! 

 

I doubt if it’s legal.  If a neighbor wishes to veto having a beehive next door, then the beehive is vetoed.  There is no due process.  There is no appeal.  The neighbor is not required to even give a reason. 

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It was obvious last night that the village government did not do a proper job of even laying out what signage should be posted on the fence outside the beehive.  A speaker at the meeting showed the size of a sign that meets the ordinance requirements.  It is not a 10 inch by 12 inch sign as the mayor protested.  The speaker pointed out that the requirement for 3 inch high letters along with the required statement, “State Registered Beehive on Property”, does not fit on a 10” x 12” sign.  The ordinance requirement calls for signs which are about 50% larger (at least 15” x 21”), and would have to be specially ordered.  You would need at least 3 or these humongous signs hanging on your residential fence.  Cheaper, smaller, commercially available signs are not allowed.

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The hoops the village designed to have beehive keepers go through is so onerous and expensive, that only someone, who wishes to thumb their nose at the village, would go through such a process.  Speakers, who asked that the village take some time, even all winter (bees are currently hibernating), to review this ordinance, without rushing through it, were ignored.  The impression this writer has is that the hearing was simply a formality, and that the board had already decided what the outcome was to be.

 

If the village government purports to show that it has an open ear to the voice of the citizens of this community, last night was not a good demonstration of it.

 Sincerely,

 Mel Weintraub

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