The Hammond Common Council on Monday relaxed its regulations on beekeeping in the city.
The council voted 6-3 to amend its ordinances giving amateur beekeepers a chance to raise bees in Hammond but still placing some restrictions on the hobby. Dissenting councilmen thought the city should have had more strict language to protect public safety and give neighboring property owners a larger buffer from bee hives.
Councilman Bill Emerson Sr., D-4th, said the ordinance at least puts some guidelines on people who want to keep bees.
“At least now we have some parameters for what they can do,” Emerson said.
The proposed ordinance states that since 1991, climate change, habitat loss and increased use of pesticides and a host of other factors has adversely affected the bee population.
The proposed ordinance would allow someone to keep no more than two colonies of bees, which must be kept in sound and stable conditions, according to the text. Those colonies must be located in a fenced area no less than four feet high and away from adjoining properties.
The city’s bee ordinance, last amended in 1991, called beekeeping a public nuisance and only allowed them to be kept securely on a person’s own property. It was a violation of the ordinance to keep bees in an unsecure or open area, according to city code.
Signs must indicate that an apiary is being kept on the property, according to the ordinance, and nothing prevents the Beekeepers Association from entering Hammond to remove hives or swarms of bees.
Councilman Mark Kalwinski, D-1st, said another community in Lake County has, in its bee ordinance, language saying the hives must be kept 200 feet away from an adjoining property.
Councilman Pete Torres, D-2nd, said he planned to vote against the ordinance because of a lack of regulation for where bees should be placed in relation to a neighboring property but also the safety concern the insects could create.
“I know I would not like a bee owner next to my property,” Torres said.
Council President Janet Venecz said if a Hammond resident wants to try beekeeping for a hobby, the city now allows people to do that.
Having a distance regulation is difficult, as most Hammond lots don’t have the same area as other communities, Venecz said.
“Is it perfect? No,” Venecz said.
