St. Charles might crackdown on beekeeping in city

Paul Napolitano stood in the backyard of his St. Charles house last September watching a cavalry of wasps from his neighbor's apple trees wage a fight for survival with his honeybee hives.

With six stomps of Napolitano's right foot, the wasp uprising was crushed. Seven months later, Napolitano is facing a full-blown war -- this time, the enemy is government regulation.

Neighbors filed complaints about Napolitano's beehives late last summer. One of the two colonies Napolitano kept wasn't entirely satisfied with the hive he'd built for them. Thousands of bees swarmed out and settled in a neighbor's tree. Napolitano retrieved them, but at least two neighbors were on high alert for bees after that, even reporting a sting to city officials.

Those incidents pushed aldermen to investigate the regulation of beekeeping for the first time. Several months of discussions with local bee experts and Napolitano's neighbors resulted in a swarm of possible new rules aldermen will vote on Monday.

The new regulations could ban beekeeping for most areas of the city. Existing beekeepers would be grandfathered in and not have to change their current operations as long as the city has received no complaints. That would leave Napolitano on the outside.

First Ward aldermen said complaints about Napolitano's bees are the only reason they are considering the regulations.

"It's come to our forefront," Alderman Dan Stellato said. "Now we have to decide how do we stop this from happening in the future. The other beekeepers, we didn't even know they existed. That's a compliment."

But aldermen don't share a hive mentality about the pending rules. Alderman Steve Gaugel said he'd visited other beekeeping operations in the city and spoke with neighbors to those sites, and he sees several of the pending rules as burdensome. Mayor Ray Rogina won't have a vote unless there is a tie, but he told aldermen this week that he is not a fan of adopting a bunch of beekeeping restrictions.

"We've had absolutely no problems except one circumstance," Rogina said. "This is a challenge. Is there a way, legally, to settle that matter, get it under control, and leave the rest to our beekeepers? They are doing their thing well."

City research indicates half the communities they surveyed have bee bans in place. Other cities allow them with some regulation. Some haven't addressed the issue. Beekeeping is legal in Chicago, which has hives on the roof of city hall.

Even back in September, Napolitano braced himself to be legislated out of his beekeeping hobby. If it happens, he'll try to find a friendly neighbor with property that matches the city's guidelines to be a host site. If that fails, he'll sell his bees.

"I understand the fear of the unknown," Napolitano said. "But rather than fearing them, why not learn about them?"

St. Charles aldermen will vote on a new beekeeping rules Monday designed to keep the hobby from becoming a nuisance to neighbors. Some of the rules about fencing, setbacks and minimum lot size could effectively ban beekeeping in most of the city.

Pending new rules for St. Charles beekeepers

• Construction of a fence or vegetation barrier of at least 6 feet between the hives and neighboring properties

• Additional setback of the hives of at least 25 feet from all property lines.

• Posting bee warning signs on the property.

• Must have and maintain a water source.

• Notification of neighbors about the beehives, including the signing of affidavits

• Mandatory in-person beekeeping training.

• Securing and maintaining an Illinois beekeeping license.

• An annual city inspection and purchase of a $65 permit.

• Limit beekeeping to single-family residential properties.

• Only residential property of at least 1 acre can host beehives.

Source: City of St. Charles