Lafayette resident challenges bee ban

With the adoption of a backyard chicken ordinance in 2011, Lafayette residents got the birds, but some are now pushing the city to allow them to have the bees.

After receiving letters from Lafayette code enforcement informing him the three beehives he keeps in his backyard are illegal and must be removed , Wi l l i a m Pomeroy is urging city leaders to reconsider Pomeroy the ordinance that bans the bees.

Pomeroy moved to the 500 block of East Simpson Street last year with his wife, Leslie, dog, Iggy, cat, Goos, and a beehive he started tending in Boulder. He has since added two colonies in his backyard.

The buzzing bugs didn’t seem to be a problem until Pomeroy received the first of two letters June 9 informinghimthat, under city code, his bees were not permitted on residential property and that hewould face a citation if he didn’t get rid of them.

In a second letter, sent late last month andwarning Pomeroy it was his “final warning on the issue,” city code compliance specialist Jon Hoffman wrote that bees are “not household pets but rather animals and thus are not permitted on residential properties.”

Pomeroy said last week he intends to keep them while imploring the city to change its stance on residential hives.

“I’m not going to get rid of them,” Pomeroy said. “To move the hives could cause the hives to collapse, and we don’t need that. It’s bad enough that the city is dumping insecticide on all the flowers.”

Hives are generally safe, even for people with bee allergies— with only 40 cases of fatalbee stings intheUnitedStates in all of 2013, hesaid.

Councilwoman Alexandra Lynch said she also would like to see the code changed.

“Certainly, based onwhat I know of the issue, honeybee hive collapse is a serious phenomenon,” she said.

Lafayette spokeswoman DebbieWilmot said the city does not discuss specific code enforcement activities against residents.