Lawmakers in Evanston tonight are expected to vote on an ordinance that would put restrictions on beekeeping.
Some residents became concerned this summer when a teenage boy set-up a beehive in the backyard of his home. He insisted the honey bees were harmless, but some city aldermen worried the presence of the thousands of bees might be dangerous.
Edmund Moran is an alderman on the Evanston city council. He says hives should be regulated because the suburb is so densely populated.
“Someone could literally be a few footsteps away from 80,000 bees that have a flight range of approximately three miles. And for some of these people it poses a daunting threat either physically or psychically,” he says.
The proposed ordinance would require beehives to be more than 25 feet away from neighbors.