An ordinance basically restricting honeybees in Chehalis was repealed during the council’s Monday night meeting.
The ordinance stated honeybee hives could be no closer than 300 feet to any habitable building.
Questions were raised by Councilor Bob Spahr at the last city council meeting on why the ordinance existed after he was approached by a person interested in possibly having hives on their property.
No one knew when the ordinance passed or why.
Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer said two ordinances address bees within city limits, one that puts a space requirement on where the hives can be placed, and another that puts bees under nuisance animals.
The council heard from three members of the Lewis County Beekeepers Association during the meeting.
Kevin Reichert, president of the association, said he believes hives should be allowed because regardless of if there are hives or not, bees would always be in the city. He recommended the council repeal the ordinance, while keeping intact the nuisance ordinance so that if the bees are abandoned, they could be properly dealt with.
Others from the association also agreed.
“It would be nice to be able to have people be able to responsibly take care of (bees),” Dan Maughan, community outreach coordinator for the association, said.
Vice president Robert Harris told the council a large part of the association is a mentorship program that teaches beekeepers the proper way to raise bees the responsible way, which would help avoid issues with neighbors.
Several councilors said if the ordinance is reworked, they would like to work in conjunction with the association to make sure the language represented the needs of beekeepers.
The council unanimously repealed the current ordinance.
