Boston Council Weighs Citywide Beekeeping Ordinance to Replace Restrictive Zoning Rules

BOSTON -- March 20, 2023, Boston City Council committee hears testimony on ordinance to legalize beekeeping citywide. The Committee on Government Operations, chaired by Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, held a March 20 hearing on Dockets 0138 and 0139, companion measures sponsored by Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, Kenzie Bach, and Arroyo that would move beekeeping out of the Boston Zoning Code and into a new municipal ordinance enforceable by the Inspectional Services Department. Chris English, ISD's chief of staff and assistant commissioner of plans and zoning, told the panel the current permitting process, requiring stamped plot plans and potentially a Zoning Board of Appeals variance, "can take several months to a year" and has produced no known fines. Shawnee Fletcher, director of Grow Boston, said the change would make beekeeping "substantially more equitable," noting that beekeeping is currently forbidden in nearly all of Boston's low-income communities of color. Advocates asked the committee to raise the draft ordinance's three-hive residential cap to five or six and to remove a personal-consumption restriction on honey sales; Louijeune said both changes were already under consideration. Both dockets were held in committee pending a working session.