Politics & Government
After Two Rounds of Changes, Skokie OKs Beekeeping Ordinance 5-1
Some beekeepers asked the board to change parts of it, but trustees found this version the honey spot between pro- and anti-beekeeping viewpoints.
By Pam DeFiglio, Patch.com
For four months, the Skokie village board has listened to the desires of beekeepers to keep their hives, the fears of one couple whose son is alergic to bee stings, and the opinions of medical professionals.
Since the topic first came up in July, village staff and officials have spent hours cross-pollinating ideas on how to permit backyard beekeeping but heed fears over bee sting allergies. Trustees voted 5-1 at Monday's village board meeting to approve an ordinance that was twice amended after bee supporters spoke at village board meetings in July, August and October.
"I think the reason this is a good ordinance is that no one is getting 100 percent of what they want, but everyone is getting something," said Trustee Edie Sue Sutker.
Earlier: Beekeepers Complain Skokie's Proposed Regs Too Restrictive
The village's attorney, Michael Lorge, read a list of changes the village made to the ordinance based on beekeepers' input, but many of the beekeeping supporters present Monday said it didn't go far enough, and questioned why the ordinance would require prospective beekeepers to get their neighbors' consent and, if not obtained, quash that person's ability to keep a beehive in their yard.
"I find this troubling because it gives my neighbor a veto over my right to engage in a hobby," said Debra Shore, a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioner and Skokie resident. "Perhaps my neighbor just doesn’t like me... There is no mechanism to appeal a veto. Without a way to appeal a veto, this ordinance fuels fear over facts."
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Citizen Katie Gudgel, whom the board thanked for a long memo analyzing 34 beekeeping laws in other places, also urged the board to again tweak the way the ordinance was written in order to provide an appeal process for people whose bee-keeping hobby is vetoed by their neighbors.
But the board did not take that suggestion.
"Neighbors have rights too," said Trustee Randall Roberts, suggesting neighbors may want to have a backyard birthday party for children and would not always know if any of the child guests had bee sting allergies.
"There are competing rights here to be balanced," he said. "We have about four hobbyists in town; this is an emerging hobby we want to support. I want to start strict--this doesn’t have to be the end of the story, we can always come back and revisit the ordinance."
Only Trustee Ilonka Ulrich voted no to the ordinance, saying she disagreed with the reasonableness of the consent portion of the ordinance.
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One of the original two Skokie beekeepers, Theo Watanabe, who has been present at all the board meetings on beekeeping, said she will lose her bees because of the ordinance. Her neighbors will not grant consent because they said during several village board meeting comments that their son is allergic to bee stings.
The ordinance would grant permission for Watanabe to relocate her beehive to the yard of another nearby neighbor, but she said privately after the board meeting she will not do that.
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"Would you plant your garden at somebody else's house?" she asked. "I want to be able to visit it several times a day."
She said she was disappointed with the outcome.
But Bob Kusel, a resident who had earlier asked the board to stay its vote, said, "I don't necessarily think this is over."
Here is a list of the modifications the board made to the ordinance after hearing citizen comments at the Oct. 21 meeting, as read by Michael Lorge, the village attorney:
- Lower the the requirement for a fence around an apiary from 6 feet to 5 feet.
- Reduce the frequency of how often beekeepers have to monitor the hives.
- Require signs to be only 10" by 12" and say "Beehive under state regulation on the premises."
- Removed the "kick test" to determine if bees were aggressive.
- Allowed water source to be located inside or outside the apiary.
- Approved a provision saying that if a neighbor vetoed someone's right to keep bees in their yard, that person could keep bees in the yard of another consenting neighbor in their area.
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