Big Island beekeepers came out in swarms Tuesday to support a bill that would overhaul how Hawaii County regulates the keeping of bees on residential and other properties.
Currently, apiaries and beehives are only allowed to be kept on land zoned as agricultural, and with some fairly restrictive conditions on top of that. But County Council Bill 144 would change that, allowing bees to be kept in any zoning district and streamlining the requirements for beekeepers.
Several beekeepers praised the measure at Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s Policy Committee on Health, Safety and Well-being.
Harry Holm, president of the Big Island Beekeepers Association, said the bill clarifies many of the confusing rules surrounding apiaries and noted that hobbyists and commercial beekeepers alike will benefit from the measure.
In particular, the bill introduces a new section of the county code specifically governing apiary regulations. These regulations are straightforward: For example, no more than 15 honeybee hives would be allowed on lots smaller than 20,000 square feet except where exempted by the county planning director.
Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who introduced the bill, said beekeepers with more than 15 hives on a small lot could apply for an exemption to be grandfathered in.
Kelly O’Day, president of U.S. Honey Bee LLC in Captain Cook, said he considers four hives the bare minimum necessary for a successful apiary that can withstand a winter — although he admitted that is less relevant in Hawaii than in his native state of Michigan.
“Fifteen hives, some people would consider that a lot, but it really comes down to: Where are they?” O’Day said. “There are many people that have those numbers at this time.”
The bill also requires hives to be at least 25 feet from any property line, except if they are behind a barrier, in which case they can be as close as 15 feet. The current regulations require hives to be at least 1,000 feet from a “major road,” which is a term undefined in the county code.
Beekeeper Erick Cremer said he once had to relocate his bees when he lived in Piihonua after a neighbor complained. After relocating them, he said it became much harder to care for the insects in a different lot than it was when they were in his own back yard.
Susan Collins, owner of Bird and Bee Hawaii in Honokaa, said the measure is vital to support the island’s beekeeping industry, which itself is necessary to maintain the health, biodiversity and agricultural productivity of not just the Big Island, but much of North America, as well.
“(The bill) recognizes the value of beekeeping as a sustainable agricultural practice and ensures that beekeepers have the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their location within the county,” Collins said.
Maria McCarthy, apiary technician of the state Department of Agriculture’s Apiary Program, said the Big Island breeds roughly 40% of queen bees that are used to form hives on the mainland U.S., and about 60% of those in Canada.
“Our Kona Coast is probably near one of the largest queen breeding programs in the world,” McCarthy said. “Our industry is valued close to $20 million. … And this affects all of our pollination and our food crops in the U.S. mainland and Canada.”
Only one person was critical of the bill. Kailua-Kona resident Marsha Robb wrote that bees from adjacent properties have swarmed her subdivision in times of drought, with the insects evidently turning to residents’ pools for sustenance.
“Bee droppings are constantly showing up on our lanai and pool tile,” Robb wrote.
McCarthy acknowledged that her department receives frequent complaints about nuisance bees, but said many of those stem from a lack of education about beekeeping best practices, many of which are spelled out in the bill. Even Robb noted that when beekeepers began properly watering their bees, the nuisance bees stopped coming to neighborhood pools.
The committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill, but Kierkiewicz said future amendments may be forthcoming based on recommendations by beekeepers. The bill was forwarded to the county planning commissions for their evaluations.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.