Legalize Bees in Hillsboro

[Bobbie Kramer]

Hillsboro will review rules about keeping chickens and other livestock within the city. Currently, bees are considered livestock, and as such are not allowed to be kept within the city limits. You can join the discussion by attending Hillsboro's open houses on urban livestock codes:
Time: All begin at 7 p.m.
Feb. 11: Civic Center, 150 E. Main St.
Feb. 25: Quatama Elementary School, 6905 N.E. Campus Way
See the full article www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2010/02/hillsboro_will_review_rules_ab.html

[drthom]

I was at the 11 Feb Meeting and most of the talk was about chickens, I had sent an email to the staff members who are leading this process and talked with them after the meeting. It appears that the city of Hillsboro will be making some changes, but there are a number of folks out there afraid of any change and they appeared to be more vocal at the meeting then those who would like to see livestock (the city code's term for everything from bees to horses including chickens, goats, pigs, etc) in the city.
There were a number of pro chicken folks there, and one woman who kept miniature horses, but I was the only beekeeper And as Bobbie pointed out to me, maybe not the best one either. I basically gave a description of beekeeping and bee life without pointing out all the benefits of bees to society in general or agriculture in particular.
I talked with the staff people there and they said our elected representatives, Hillsboro City Council would be making the decision based on staff input. It would behoove us to have a few more Hillsboro beekeepers at the next meeting. And if anyone knows of other allies in this cause, let them know about the meeting too.
If anyone knows of good pro-bee wording in a municipal code, I would appreciate a note pointing it out. It always pays to give a good example of what you want and it makes their job easier too

Thanks,
Tom

[Electric Herb]

I am planning to be there. And I will reach out to the Willamette Valley folks (how about it, Harry?) to get input on their successful effort in McMinnville last year and the OSBA folks who were successful in Albany a couple of years ago (I think Harry was part of that effort, also).

We should be able to get some very good wording for the staff to propose to the Council members.

I think I saw a picture in the Oregonian a few days ago of Jerry Maasdam at the Feb 11th meeting. What say you, Jerry?

[drthom]

Another round of livestock meetings in Hillsboro, we missed the first one (last night) but there are two more:
Thursday, 27 May and Thursday 3 June
More info here:
<http://www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/Planning/CityAnimalReview.aspx?g1dd=8&g2dd=4#NewPolicy>
If you live in Hillsboro, try to make it there!
Or if you live in an area that may be annexed.
Or if you are an officer of TVBA.
Thanks for your help,
Tom

[Electric Herb]

I have the meetings on my calendar. And we will pass the word to everyone at our regular meeting this Friday evening.

[Electric Herb]

Sorry I couldn't make the meeting last night....I am in Missoula to celebrate the birth of my first grandchild....she arrived Tuesday.

Kevin is in Hawaii. We both should be able to make the meeting next week.

[Electric Herb]

Tonight is the last meeting at 7:00 PM in the main auditorium at the Hillsboro Civic Center. Hope to see lots of beeks there.

Herb

[drew]

Sooooooo
Any word what become of the meeting?

[Electric Herb]

The Hillsboro City Planning Department folks took our recommendations and have included the same requirements for keeping bees as were adopted in McMinnville. The planning folks are very receptive to our input and ask for clear definitions and language to be sure the resulting ordinances are fair and usable. They are considering a separate section in the proposals for bees and want to remove bees from the exotic pet category.

NOTE: This was the last of three meetings to review the options that will be proposed to the City Council. There is still time to get comments and corrections into the planning folks. I think I heard that the first reading before the city council will be on Aug 3rd. We will need to get a better definition of bee to them and recommend that the 15 foot property line set back be eliminated in light of the fact that there is a requirement for a 6 foot fence, shrub or structure to be between the hives and the property line (see below). Also note that the city council can take any of the three options or none of them.

The deadline for input is June 30th. REMEMBER: Letters are absolutely the best way to get your input heard.

Please review the actual draft proposed options as I could be distorting something since I have extracted the parts about bees from the complete document which is here: www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/Planning/documents/Open_House_2_Packet.pdf

There are three options that will be presented to the city council and beekeeping is allowed in each of the options. The main differences between the options is the size of the lot and permit requirements.

Option A: One acre lot, permit required
Option B; 6,000 sq ft lot, permit required
Option C: 6,000 sq ft lot, no permit required.

The requirements for keeping bees in each of the options are as follows:

A. Keeping Bees. Keeping bees or bee hives/colonies is permitted in conformance with the following standards:
1. Bees shall not be kept on a property where a person who has a medically certified allergy to the stng of bees resides within 300 feet from the hive or colony.
2. Unused bee equipment shall not be n the open or accessible to bees.
3. No more than three bee hives/colonies shall be kept on any city lot.
4. Bee hives/colonies kept on the ground shall be at least 30 feet from any right-of-way, public space, or building, public or private, except those buildings owned by the bee
keeper.
5. Bee hives/colonies kept on the ground may be kept no closer than 15 feet from the property line provided a fence, structure or hedge, at least six feet in height, exists between the property line and the hive/colony, which forces the bees to raise their flight path over neighboring properties.
B. Nuisances. No person(s) who is a bee keeper shall cause, permit or allow a nuisance that involves the keeping of bees on private property. A nuisance exists when violations of Sections 8.08.XXX through 8.08.XXX occur.

The following is the definition of bee, which needs to be modified. I will work with Dewey Caron and Ramesh Sigili to get a recommended definition to the city planners. It would not be good if orchard mason bees and bumble bees were excluded from the ordinances due to the definition of "bee".

"Bee" means a social colonial insect, kept in a beehive, and domesticated for the purpose of producing honey and/or for pollination.

"Domesticated Animal" means any animal species which has been bred to become accustomed to human provision, control, and care.

[Newbee2]

As of December 16th, bees (and poultry) are now legal in Hillsboro (with restrictions)! You can see all the regulations at:
www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/Planning/documents/Beekeeping_Notification_Packet.pdf

I guess I'm the guinea pig because I've applied for my permit and paid the $25 fee. I should have the mailing labels this coming week to mail the packets to my neighbors.

Bees are part of my plan for a more sustainable way of living. I'm a total newbee and have never even been near a hive so I look forward to reading as much here and from other sources as possible.

Thankfully, they changed the wording in the final regulation as I couldn't have met with the requirements listed above. The basic information is:

-Bee hives/colonies shall only be kept on single-family residential property >7000 square foot lots

-No more than three bee hives/colonies

- "Bee hives/colonies shall not be kept when a person who has a medically certified allergy to the sting of bees resides within three hundred feet of the hives/colonies and has submitted medical documentation to the city and a written request that the hives/colonies be removed"

- No selling of products.

- The hives have to be behind the front building plane of the dwelling and a minimum of ten feet from any property line(s) or fifteen feet from any property line if there is no barrier

-Notify neighbors within 300 feet of the intent to keep bees and the type of bee kept then submit a written declaration to the city of that notification.

[drthom]

Just an update: We are now legal!
To summarize, we spent the $25 to get the mailing labels,
$10.80 to make copies, $19.36 to mail the copies, and another
$25 for the permit (which is also good for chickens).
So the total comes to about $80 -- I did save a bit by trifolding
the mailing and not putting it in an envelope, the city planning
department wasn't happy, but let it slide since I had made laser
copies so things wouldn't run if they got wet.
They were nice at the planning office but it did take awhile because
these are new forms for these folks.