Plymouth Tweaks Draft Beekeeping Ordinance, Reduces Requirements

Plymouth Township continues to tweak a draft beekeeping ordinance, in an ongoing back-and-forth that began after a local family stirred up controversy by installing two honeybee hives on their property earlier this year.

Nearby residents originally took their concerns over allergies and property values before Plymouth Council in April, after the Shaffer family of 1435 Sandwood Drive, Conshohocken, installed the hives. In turn, a number of beekeepers from around the county and state have visited township meetings, in an attempt to educate councilmembers on the nature of the insects and to dissuade them from approving strict regulations.

Township planning consultant Ken Amey then presented a draft beekeeping ordinance in June, establishing minimum standards such as how far a hive could be from an adjoining house. After a visit from Pennsylvania State University beekeeping expert Maryann Frazier last month, Amey again tweaked the regulations.

"My direction from council was to take what she had presented and go back with some changes to the draft ordinance, which was, admittedly, a very conservative ordinance,” Amey said at Monday's council workshop.

Amey then presented the follows changes:

• Minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet, or a little less than 3/4 of an acre, reduced to 12,000 square feet, or a little more than 1/4 of an acre
• Setback from property line reduced from 50 feet to 20 feet
• Distance from hive to adjacent residences reduced from 75 feet to 40 feet.

In addition, the following requirements were kept or added:

• Limit the number of hives to two
• All hives must located in the rear yard
• Must be a six-foot enclosing barrier from adjoining properties
• All beekeeping must comply with Beekeepers Alliance Agreement
• Must have 75 foot separation from any swimming pool on a residential property (new)
• All beekeepers must complete a training course (new)
• Must provide emergency contact information to the township. (new)

Council vice chair Lenore Bruno said she thought the restrictions had been too greatly loosened, saying she wished to see the minimum lot size increased to 15,000 square feet.

However, councilwoman Maria Weidinger said she thought the 12,000 sq. ft. requirement was suitable, given that it allows a maximum of 49 percent of the township's properties to be eligible for beekeeping.

"As it is, we have 49 percent with this lot size, but then all of the other requirements will kick even more people out," Weidinger said.

Chair Sheldon Simpson said that he would like to see the minimum distance from another residence increased from forty to fifty feet, but also added that he was a proponent of the idea of adding a beekeeping area to Wetherill Park, in order to give residents an alternative place to practice the hobby.

Parks and Recreation director Karen Franck told council that she had looked into the possibility, but was told by a consultant that it was unwise because of possible monetary or property damages that beekeepers might incur.

"My understanding from our consultant was that it would not work because if you have a number of [hives] belonging to different beekeepers, if one set of the bees gets diseased, the strong hives take over the weak hives," Franck said.

However, a beekeeper in attendance stated that he believed this was not a legitimate concern, saying that beekeepers deal with these kinds of issues even within their own hives.

Council instructed Franck to further look into the issue and Amey to continue working on the beekeeping ordinance.

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