Kane County takes input from beekeepers, revises proposed new regulations
A renewed push to create beekeeping regulations in Kane County got local beekeepers brooding over rules that could be a real buzzkill. They've swarmed county officials over the last month with information that sparked revisions to a county plan unveiled Tuesday that seeks to keep bees protected from people and people protected from bees.
The proposed rules focus on preventing beekeepers from establishing too many hives on a property that may not be large enough to accommodate multiple colonies, said Mark VanKerkhoff, the county's development director.
For example, the rules limit properties smaller than ΒΌ of an acre to no more than two permanent hives and two temporary hives. Properties between 3.5 and 5 acres could have as many as 40 permanent hives and 50 additional temporary hives. Properties larger than 5 acres, or zoned and used primarily for agriculture, would be exempt.
The rules also create distance requirements from neighboring properties and address bee swarming.
"(Swarming) is a key component because if we do get a call, that's where people are concerned," Vankerkhoff said. "They observe a swarm, and it can be disturbing. The best way to control that, as well as benefit our beekeepers, is to have temporary hives in place during the right time in season for those swarms to move to and expand the colony that way."
The pending rules ban beekeeping in front yards. They require all hives to be located at least 5 feet away from neighboring property and at least 10 feet away from sidewalks and public paths.
Every beekeeping operation must have an adequate water source for the number of hives. County officials believe this will prevent problems that arose last summer with bees disrupting the use of all the new swimming pools people set up during the COVID-19 quarantining.
Discussion is ongoing about possibly requiring signage to notify the public when beekeeping is active on a piece of property. There have also been suggestions about mandating fencing in some situations. Neither of those ideas is in the current draft.
On Tuesday, members of the county board's development committee gave the proposal its first stamp of approval.
"I want to compliment the staff on making this sort of a passive enforcement," committee member Drew Frasz said. "They needed to have something to work with if an event happens, but I don't think we're going to be out patrolling beehives."
The county board's agriculture committee will weigh in on the draft this Thursday.