DuPage County beekeeping ordinance proposal creates a buzz
A DuPage County ordinance pertaining to an insect beloved by enthusiast groups and some residents has caused a buzz in recent months as the parameters around regulating its presence has been under the microscope.
The DuPage County Board has been considering text amendment changes to its beekeeping ordinance amid a broader review of land use issues within unincorporated areas. Recent discussions have focused on accommodations for 4-H students and potentially regulating the types and species of bees that could be kept within the county.
Beekeeping policies under committee review
The County Board was slated to act on specific text changes that gave leeway to 4-H at its most recent full business meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13, though the matter was tabled.
The board’s Development Committee, focusing on land use issues, reviewed the document with a favorable recommendation to waive an existing requirement of 40,000 square feet of land area for beekeeping for 4-H participants.
But the committee-level debate prompted a deeper debate about bee species and what does and does not constitute a native member of the insect population. To this end, a majority of the board voted to refer potential ordinance changes over to the board’s Environmental Committee for a deeper analysis.
District 6 commissioner Sheila Rutledge, who chairs the Environmental Committee, made the recommendation to forward the review over to the group.
“We have had amazing amounts of comment on this. It’s very split,” Rutledge said. “I think there’s two separate issues to this — there’s a land use issue, and an environmental issue.”
In defense of the honeybee
County documents related to the ordinance change include references to the “native bee and “non-native honeybee species,” which caused a hornet’s nest of concern among enthusiast groups who weighed in on the matter at the recent board meeting.
Naperville resident Dennis Wisnosky, a member of the Will County Beekeepers Association, said years of research has indicated honeybees are not a threat to the native habitat. He said the species has been a productive pollinator and has been harmed by lack of habitat and manmade treatments such as insecticides and pesticides.
“Honeybees are where they are, and I’d like to keep it that way in DuPage County,” Wisnosky said.
Bill Whitney, owner of Wheaton-based City Bee Savers, said the raw honey bees create has been shown to have a number of healthful benefits to people.
“Every one of us is becoming more aware of our food and how it affects our bodies,” Whitney said. “We’ve gotten out of kilter in the United States, and people want to get back to more raw or natural or organic foods. Honey happens to be a very valuable component.”
Board supports continued information-gathering on beekeeping
County Board chairwoman Deborah Conroy said she was in favor of keeping the review of the beekeeping ordinance at the committee level for the time being.
“There’s so much I’m learning about bees that I didn’t know,” Conroy said. “It sounds like it’s well worth the educational piece, just to get all board members to understand, including myself, what the issues are. We’ll move it forward from there.”
While much of the recent discussion focused on the environmental aspects of the ordinance, District 5 commissioner Patty Gustin said she believed further reviews of the land use component were also warranted.
As a former councilwoman for the City of Naperville, Gustin recalled a review of a honeybee ordinance in the municipality that made accommodations for property owners with smaller lot sizes.
Gustin said she believes the existing provision requiring 40,000 square feet of land area results in inequity, particularly in unincorporated areas of the county that do not have a specific municipal ordinance in place.
“It does accommodate people that are wealthier that can afford an acre and can do beekeeping under the current county ordinance, where other people in unincorporated Naperville cannot,” Gustin said. “They don’t have that freedom.”
