Public to get say on backyard bees at hearing

NEWS — The buzz is that tonight’s public hearing will a beehive of activity.

Local beekeepers want to see more backyard bees, so the City is considering allowing hives on standard single- and two-family lots.

At 7 p.m. in City Hall, the public will have its say.

Under proposed bylaw amendments, the beehives wouldn’t be allowed in front yards and would have to be pointed away from adjacent properties with setback requirements designed to manage their flight paths.

Provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp allayed fears about aggressive and swarming bees, and bee stings.

He said bees are not aggressive but will defend a hive if threatened, and only swarm when they’re moving the hive somewhere. True medical allergies occur in less than three per cent of people, he said, adding that bees often get a bum rap when wasps do the stinging.

He is not aware of increases in bee stings in neighbourhoods where beehives have been allowed.

“We have not witnessed problems that arose after beekeeping was permitted in any municipality and district that we have advised in the last 10 years or so.”

Van Westendorp wasn’t sure an extensive public awareness campaign is a good idea.

“It’s likely to generate controversy, especially among neighbours who may have been irritating each other for a long time for all kinds of unrelated reasons.

“There are also significant portions of the population whose emotional anxieties about ‘bugs’ and especially stinging insects will be activated to the highest levels for no good reason.”

He did recommend an information package for the fire department so it knows how to hose down any bees that create a problem.