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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Lanette Fee <fee AT sprintmail.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] bees in CH/CBO city limits
  • Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 13:25:12 -0400

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

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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"><BLU105-W36347F7284ADBF9AC8A58F8EC80 AT phx.gbl>
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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"><482DFA00.7050900 AT gmail.com>
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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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