Urban beekeeping can fly, committee decides

The push to expand beekeeping to all areas of Winnipeg has cleared its toughest hurdle at city hall, as the city council committee in charge of land-use ruleshas decided to allow urban apiculture to fly.

Council's property committee voted Tuesday to amend the Winnipeg Zoning Bylaw to allow beekeeping in all neighbourhoods and properties in the city, provided apiarists obtain a permit and conform to guidelines about fencing and yard size.

The change, which still requires approval from council as a whole, allows expansion of urban beekeeping beyond downtown rooftop hives and properties zoned for agriculture.

• Councillors to decide how far to expand urban beekeeping

The decision followed a public consultation process that found widespread support for urban beekeeping, even from some people who expressed fear of bees due to allergies.

Winnipeg is one of the last major cities in Canada to restrict urban apiculture. City planners support urban beekeeping because it promotes pollination, biodiversity, food security and education.

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Winnipeg still has to decide who will inspect beehives in the city and who will pay for the inspections.

Beekeeper Chris Kirouac of the Bee Project said provincial inspectors do a good job with random inspections.

He also supported a city plan to ensure mosquito-fogging buffer zones around beehives are only 90 metres, rather than the 300-metre buffer zone apiarists consider ideal.

There was no fogging at all in summer 2017, Kirouac noted.