The Alexandria Planning Commission has deferred a plan to implement citywide beekeeping policies, finding that city staff needed to conduct more outreach and research.
On May 5, city staff told the Planning Commission that its community outreach was limited to a consultation with a member of the Northern Virginia Beekeepers Association. There are no existing provisions regulating beekeeping in Alexandria. The city’s plan would have allowed two hives on lots smaller than 5,000 square feet, with an additional hive for every additional 2,500 square feet of property, and 5-to-10-foot setbacks for those hives.
Alexandria resident John Scott told the Commission he has been a beekeeper for eight years and that the proposal is not enforceable. Scott said he keeps up to four hives, typically losing a couple during the colder months, and that bees from his remaining hives will scavenge honey from the empty ones.
“It’s an art and a bit of a science,” Scott said. “I’m not really sure you could enforce this without a lot of training and money and everything else like that.”
City staff also said the proposed regulations were created in response to a single complaint at a public hearing from a resident about a neighbor who keeps bees.
Planning Commission Chair Melissa McMahon asked staff to provide more information on the resident complaint, and said the proposal is unusual, since staff typically do not recommend zoning ordinance changes based on an isolated incident.
“Maybe what we get out of this is an interesting group that do want to get into a discussion with you all and think about different approaches where these requirements could not lead to the outcomes that we’re expect them to and can actually backfire on us,” McMahon said.
City Council will receive an update on the plan at its meeting Saturday, May 16.
