Honeybees create negative buzz in West Bench neighbourhood

A West Bench resident has been denied an exception to bylaws for more beehives, following neighbourhood concerns.

Deborah and Mark Webb of 1124 Park Place have housed hives for 14 years. They had asked the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen for a variance to the existing bylaw in order to allow eight hives rather than two, the ability to locate them in other areas of their property, and a reduction in the required hive setback from 7.5 metres to 0.5 metres.

The RDOS bylaw specifies beehives be kept in a backyard, however the Webbs have an extremely narrow backyard area.

Deborah Webb spoke at Thursday's RDOS board meeting, asking the board to consider her request despite concerns from neighbours about bees on their properties where children play.

“I feel that we should be focused more on protecting pollinators and encouraging local food security. Honey bees are actually very gentle creatures. I've gone into a lavender bed and worked among them and I've never been stung. I've been stung by wasps and I have to carry an EpiPen, I've been stung by hornets. I've been stung by ground bees, mason bees, I've never been stung by a honey bee,” Webb said.

“Honey bees are not really the problem here.”

She suggested the problem is her neighbours setting up an attractant like a child's splash pad or wading pool early in the spring before the Webbs themselves have had the chance to set up a big basin of water on their property near the bees.

Webb also implied the children or their caregivers were in part responsible for their reaction to flying insects and other animals.

"People who sit quietly are not bothered by these insects, people who start flapping their arms running around, which kids do if they're panicked [may be bothered]. I taught our daughter not to be afraid of bees,” Webb said.

"If you teach your children properly they aren’t going to be bothered.”

The hives are owned by Okanagan Wildflower Honey, who do all the work tending to the bees and moving them to various orchards and farms up and down the South Okanagan during pollination season.

“We are asking that we can be stewards for honey bees, rather than being denied strictly by the rulebook," Webb said.

District staff noted in their report that the proposed variance would likely lead to interpersonal conflict with neighbours, and recommended that the board deny it.

The district received four letters from neighbours, three of which were vehemently against increasing the number of hives.

The letters cited swarms of bees coming into their yards, attracted to their kids’ water toys, and reports of kids being stung.

“So lots of what the applicant has shared today, I don't disagree with the importance of bees and everything like that. I absolutely. I think it would be great if children would all stay still and we all learned how to do that. That would be great,” said Riley Gettens, West Bench area director.

She added that in her opinion, too many hives would be an unfair nuisance to the neighbours.

“This is the reason we have bylaws … So if the bees were in the right spot and they had the right number of hives, this may not be happening to the neighbours. The neighbours can have a wading pool out whenever they want. The kids can go out in the wading pool whenever they want.”

Some of the rural directors expressed feeling torn about the issue. Rural Oliver director Rick Knodel characterized pushback about the bees a symptom of over-densification of rural areas, and new neighbours that “panic right away.”

Ultimately, the Webbs' request for a variance was denied, with directors Rick Knodel, Adrienne Fedrigo of Naramata and Bob Coyne of rural Princeton opposed.