[ocba] bees in CH/CBO city limits
Randall Austin
ra41717 at gmail.com
Fri May 23 13:25:12 EDT 2008
Lanette,
I read over the Chapel Hill zoning regulations and it seems to me that
the first row of the appropriate-use table in Appendix 3 says that
"incidental uses" are permitted in residential areas. So for example,
you can wash your car as long as you aren't operating a car wash. The
same logic applies to yard sales: you can sell stuff every now and then
as long as that isn't the purpose of your property. This is why it is
okay to keep a FEW chickens as pets but they regulate how many you can
have.
It would be a zoning problem to keep a cow or horse in town, since by
their nature you must devote a fairly large bit of land expressly for
the purpose of keeping livestock. But for a hive of honey bees kept as a
hobby, you only need to devote a 2x2 foot square of property, so that is
clearly incidental to the main purpose of the land (residence).
Randall
Lanette Fee wrote:
> Dear All,
> I have read the part Jane referenced, but I disagree with this
> interpretation of the ordinances. There are other sections that deal more
> specifically with animals, large and small, pet and livestock. See...
>
> http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?sid=33&pid=19952
>
> Bees are not designated as livestock in the codes I found. If we look
> at chapter 4 (Animals and Animal Control) in the link above, there is a
> discussion of horses, cows, goats, swine, and sheep which indicates that you
> are required to have more than 4 acres to have one of these and there is no
> reference to specific land use areas designated for this. Chickens are
> definitely livestock and you are allowed to house up to 20 chickens within
> the city limits under certain conditions (i.e., cleanliness, noncommercial
> use only, noise level not a nuisance to neighbors, can't run at large within
> the town limits). Rabbits are discussed - you can't sell them less than 60
> days of age and you can't dye them (or baby chicks) for sale. (Who on Earth
> would want to dye them? The things some people will do!)
> There is no mention of bees at all. But, there is discussion of many
> other livestock.
> I did a search in the link in Jane's message and could not find specific
> mention of bees or bees being classified as livestock. Jane, could you
> point me to the right section, please? I must have been delinquent in
> finding it. All I found was a table that had Agriculture: Livestock v.
> Non-Livestock where I found the districts you mention, but nothing other
> than that.
> How many hives constitues someone conducting "Agriculture? " My
> interpretation of this would be that the zoning maps indicate residential v.
> business use and I agree that beekeeping as a business is agriculture.
> And, I also agree that a couple of hundred hives downtown might not be such
> a good idea. But I think that a few hives would fall under the animal and
> animal control ordinances rather than the business v. residential
> ordinances. The chickens are a good example where a few for noncommercial
> purposes are allowed.
> What do you think?
> Lanette Fee
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jane Dunlap" <janedunlap at bellsouth.net>
> To: <ocba at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 8:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [ocba] bees in CH/CBO city limits
>
>
>
>> The ordinances for both towns are a bit dense, but Chapel Hill classifies
>> bees as 'livestock,' which can only be kept in a few low-density zoning
>> districts: R-LD5, RT, MH. Carrboro doesn't specifically mention bees that
>> I
>> could find, but goes on about how non-pets must be kept on the owner's
>> property and x distance from property lines. So it seems that neither town
>> is bee-friendly. Probably best to check with someone at Town Hall before
>> installing a hive.
>>
>> You can't keep elephants in Carrboro, either.
>>
>> -- Jane
>>
>>
>> See CH land use matrix here:
>>
>> http://www.townofchapelhill.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=521
>>
>> and a zoning map here:
>>
>> http://www.townofchapelhill.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=1669
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ocba-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
>> [mailto:ocba-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of
>> ocba-request at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 1:21 PM
>> To: ocba at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Subject: ocba Digest, Vol 38, Issue 12
>>
>>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Bees in a tree (David Langham)
>> 2. Re: QUESTION (Randall Austin)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:49:02 -0400
>> From: David Langham <david_langham at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: [ocba] Bees in a tree
>> To: ocba listserv <ocba at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <BLU105-W36347F7284ADBF9AC8A58F8EC80 at phx.gbl>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>>
>>
>> All,
>> Michael Pettiford has bees in a hole in a tree. The hole is ground level
>> and might be easily accessible via bee-vac. His number is 923-3577.
>> Happy Beekeeping!
>> David
>> _________________________________________________________________
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 17:17:52 -0400
>> From: Randall Austin <ra41717 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [ocba] QUESTION
>> To: Becky Bollinger <beckyalis at gmail.com>
>> Cc: "Orange County, NC Beekeepers" <ocba at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <482DFA00.7050900 at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Becky,
>>
>> The Chapel Hill town ordinances can be found here:
>> http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?sid=33&pid=19952
>>
>> The Carrboro ordinances can be found here:
>> http://www.ci.carrboro.nc.us/TC/towncode.htm
>>
>> I'm not a lawyer & may have overlooked something, but it doesn't appear
>> to me that either Chapel Hill or Carrboro have any restrictions
>> whatsoever on keeping honey bees. Note that by their own specific
>> definitions, their animal control statutes only include vertebrates so
>> don't cover honey bees.
>>
>> However you should be aware that in Carrboro, it is specifically against
>> the law to possess a camel.
>>
>> Randall
>>
>> Becky Bollinger wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone know if it is legal to keep bees within Chapel Hill and
>>> Carrboro town limits?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Becky
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
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