HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0364.017 2018-2020 COUNTY CLERK
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From: ibklymanCabyahoo.com COUNTY OF HAWAII
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony-Hawaii County Bee Ordinances-Support for resolution 7
Date: Friday,August 02,2019 11:36:41 AM +-
I am a backyard hobby beekeeper with 4 hives in the side yard. I STRONGLY support the ability to
keep bees in any location on the Big Island, as long as they are not presenting a nuisance situation. I
recommend and support resolution 219 19 to form a task group to hash out the current county
ordinances and remove confusing- poor worded definitions and contractionary clauses that are
currently part of our county code.
i
Before 2008 1 had many palm seeds and citrus fruits growing on % lot size property—but after the
Varroa mite took out most of the feral bee populations, the seed and fruit production dropped (in
my yard alone) by 80%. lout of 5 orange flowers were pollinated on my tree that year, and no
palm seeds grew despite the abundance of palm inflorescent flower stems. After we hosted a single
beehive, the following year I had to have an arborist trim my orange tree as it was so full of fruit, it
was breaking branches off. 1 can't emphasize enough how important bees are to our agricultural
base here in Hawaii.
E
k
i
Excluding bees from "residential areas" is ridiculous as bees and stinging insects (wasps,fire ants)
are everywhere PLUS if Honolulu along Waikiki beach allows them, why should a supposed Ag
Centric, small business promoting location like the Big Island have exclusions for bees ! Please take
some time to review the current laws and update them with a well informed decision making group
that will apply "best practices" as used in many other communities, urban cities, and countries. The
more "backyard beekeepers"we have in as many distributed locations we can muster—the quicker
we be able to detect and respond to problems for such a critical creature that our Ag industry relies
on.
Jim Klyman
Keaau
i
Comm. No. t1
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