How we got started
Burnaby endorses bees in our neighborhoods.
In 2009, City Council approved modifications to the Zoning Bylaw (Section 3 “Accessory Use”) to permit beekeeping (apiculture) in seven residentially zoned districts of Burnaby and within the three agriculturally zoned districts, as shown on this map. Burnaby residents who meet both municipal and provincial requirements are encouraged to explore this rewarding activity.
For more information on Burnaby’s regulations regarding urban apiculture, a brochure is available. Please be aware that all bee colonies must be registered with the Province.
The City of Burnaby also has a bee condo program managed by Parks staff to provide homes for Blue Orchard Mason Bees in the City’s Parks. These native bees are important pollinators, however unlike honey bees do not form colonies nor produce honey.
How bees came to be in Burnaby
Urban life can be sweet, but here's the buzz: Beware of the sting Somebody phoned the City of Burnaby. This somebody complained that a neighbour by the name of Janice Bobic was keeping bees in her backyard, and that one of her bees stung him. Apparently, it was not legal to keep bees in one's backyard in Burnaby. By The Vancouver SunMarch 24, 2009
It started as these things do, with a complaint.
Somebody phoned the City of Burnaby. This somebody complained that a neighbour by the name of Janice Bobic was keeping bees in her backyard, and that one of her bees stung him. Apparently, it was not legal to keep bees in one's backyard in Burnaby.
Ergo, the bees should go.
Well, now, here was a problem. According to John Gibeau, a commercial beekeeper from Surrey who keeps tabs on these sorts of things, there are approximately 100 amateur beekeepers in Burnaby, all of them furtively pursuing their hobby in contravention of the Burnaby Zoning Bylaw, which bans the keeping of bees in residential areas. For years, these renegade beekeepers have been skulking around in their backyards in their veiled hats and their overalls and their smokers, and have established themselves in such numbers that they could no longer be ignored. A citizen had been assaulted! What to do?
Well, we'll get to that.
First, here are some interesting beekeeping facts:
There are beehives on the roof of the new Vancouver convention centre. There are beehives on the third-floor patio of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. There are beehives on the roof of the world-famous Opera Garnier, in Paris, France. There are, overall, about 1,000 amateur urban beekeepers in Metro Vancouver. Urban bees often produce more honey than rural bees, and their honey is just as often said to be more delicious, possibly because of the absence of pesticides in urban areas. It has been legal to keep bees in residential areas in Richmond, Surrey, the District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver for decades, but it has been legal in Vancouver for only four years. Oddly, its legalization in Vancouver received nowhere near the press that the recent legalization of backyard poultry-keeping did, which, I think, is not so much an interesting beekeeping fact as indicative of the ambivalent relationship many humans have with bees.
Back to Burnaby:
Rather than get rid of her bees, Bobic (who did not return calls to her home) approached city council in September of last year. She asked Gibeau, whose 7,000 bee colonies pollinate $100-million-worth of local fruit crops each year, to come along with her. He did.
The two of them waxed eloquently to council about the benefits of urban beekeeping: the pollination of local flora, honey, the replacement of threatened bee numbers due to disease, honey, a hobby that cultivated an appreciation of the natural world, honey. . . . Bobic and Gibeau made the argument that rather than shut down the hundred or so backyard beekeepers in Burnaby, Burnaby should come to appreciate the benefits of beekeeping and legalize the practice, an argument that can be made for another form of underground agriculture popular in Burnaby, but we won't get into that here.
"They made the argument," said Coun. Dan Johnston, chair of the city's environment committee, "that bees were good for the environment, and I think a lot of people are sensitive to that now. So we referred it to the environment committee so we could study the issue."
Part of the committee's report:
"Pollinators, including honeybees and other insects, are critical to the life cycles of most horticultural plants and agricultural crops. Urban beekeeping as a hobby can contribute to more productive harvests from backyard, street, rooftop, and community gardens. It is estimated that the pollination services provided by honeybees are often 60 to 100 times more valuable than the market price of honey.
"In terms of biodiversity, as pollinators, honeybees contribute to the production of fruits, vegetables and seeds which then provide a food source for birds and other insects, contributing to the health and biodiversity of the urban environment."
As for the cons:
The occasional bee sting. Waxy droppings on cars and clotheslines. Statistically rare allergic reactions.
"Generally," the report stated, "past experience with the keeping of beehives in an urban settings shows that there are few instances of concern or adverse impacts to neighbouring properties, particularly given proper management, siting and the establishment of other supporting regulations to provide for and encourage sound bee keeping practices."
This column was written before Burnaby city council was to meet Monday evening, but the buzz, said Coun. Johnston, is that the amendment will pass.
Somebody phoned the City of Burnaby. This somebody complained that a neighbour by the name of Janice Bobic was keeping bees in her backyard, and that one of her bees stung him. Apparently, it was not legal to keep bees in one's backyard in Burnaby.
Ergo, the bees should go.
Well, now, here was a problem. According to John Gibeau, a commercial beekeeper from Surrey who keeps tabs on these sorts of things, there are approximately 100 amateur beekeepers in Burnaby, all of them furtively pursuing their hobby in contravention of the Burnaby Zoning Bylaw, which bans the keeping of bees in residential areas. For years, these renegade beekeepers have been skulking around in their backyards in their veiled hats and their overalls and their smokers, and have established themselves in such numbers that they could no longer be ignored. A citizen had been assaulted! What to do?
Well, we'll get to that.
First, here are some interesting beekeeping facts:
There are beehives on the roof of the new Vancouver convention centre. There are beehives on the third-floor patio of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. There are beehives on the roof of the world-famous Opera Garnier, in Paris, France. There are, overall, about 1,000 amateur urban beekeepers in Metro Vancouver. Urban bees often produce more honey than rural bees, and their honey is just as often said to be more delicious, possibly because of the absence of pesticides in urban areas. It has been legal to keep bees in residential areas in Richmond, Surrey, the District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver for decades, but it has been legal in Vancouver for only four years. Oddly, its legalization in Vancouver received nowhere near the press that the recent legalization of backyard poultry-keeping did, which, I think, is not so much an interesting beekeeping fact as indicative of the ambivalent relationship many humans have with bees.
Back to Burnaby:
Rather than get rid of her bees, Bobic (who did not return calls to her home) approached city council in September of last year. She asked Gibeau, whose 7,000 bee colonies pollinate $100-million-worth of local fruit crops each year, to come along with her. He did.
The two of them waxed eloquently to council about the benefits of urban beekeeping: the pollination of local flora, honey, the replacement of threatened bee numbers due to disease, honey, a hobby that cultivated an appreciation of the natural world, honey. . . . Bobic and Gibeau made the argument that rather than shut down the hundred or so backyard beekeepers in Burnaby, Burnaby should come to appreciate the benefits of beekeeping and legalize the practice, an argument that can be made for another form of underground agriculture popular in Burnaby, but we won't get into that here.
"They made the argument," said Coun. Dan Johnston, chair of the city's environment committee, "that bees were good for the environment, and I think a lot of people are sensitive to that now. So we referred it to the environment committee so we could study the issue."
Part of the committee's report:
"Pollinators, including honeybees and other insects, are critical to the life cycles of most horticultural plants and agricultural crops. Urban beekeeping as a hobby can contribute to more productive harvests from backyard, street, rooftop, and community gardens. It is estimated that the pollination services provided by honeybees are often 60 to 100 times more valuable than the market price of honey.
"In terms of biodiversity, as pollinators, honeybees contribute to the production of fruits, vegetables and seeds which then provide a food source for birds and other insects, contributing to the health and biodiversity of the urban environment."
As for the cons:
The occasional bee sting. Waxy droppings on cars and clotheslines. Statistically rare allergic reactions.
"Generally," the report stated, "past experience with the keeping of beehives in an urban settings shows that there are few instances of concern or adverse impacts to neighbouring properties, particularly given proper management, siting and the establishment of other supporting regulations to provide for and encourage sound bee keeping practices."
This column was written before Burnaby city council was to meet Monday evening, but the buzz, said Coun. Johnston, is that the amendment will pass.