Greg Stewart once made his living as an exterminator, so he knows a pest when he sees one.
Honeybees don’t qualify.
Stewart, president of the Coastal Empire Beekeeper’s Association, made a presentation on urban beekeeping Tuesday to the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission. The information session was part of the ongoing review of the city of Savannah’s animal control ordinance, specifically as it relates to backyard chickens and bees.
“The bee population is good in Savannah,” Stewart said. “The goal is to get control of it and get more beekeepers involved.”
Stewart is part of a task force formed by the MPC in early 2012 to draft proposed changes to the ordinance. The Chatham County Commission adopted the revised ordinance last summer, but the Savannah City Council has yet to take up the issue, wanting more of what city spokesman Bret Bell characterized as “public engagement” before debating an ordinance change.
Savannah City Council is likely to review the ordinance at a May meeting, Bell said. Tuesday’s presentation to the MPC is in advance of a petition asking for the board’s recommendation to City Council on the issue.
The MPC board has continued such petitions twice previously. Like council, the board wanted more public feedback.
MPC staffer Ellen Harris has met with “15 to 20” neighborhood associations in recent months to educate them on urban beekeeping and the particulars of the ordinance. All but one of those groups is currently in support of the changes.
“Most of the concerns have been with the provisions regarding bees,” Harris said. “Some people are really afraid of bees, but once they come to better understand what’s in the ordinance, they come away comfortable with it.”
The bee provisions of the proposed ordinance include requiring beekeepers to register their hives, requiring a fence or other barrier near the hives to direct bees upward as they leave their home in search of water and pollen and the creation of an “expert consultant roster” to help educate the public about beekeeping and support animal control when problems arise.
“Aggression in bees is easy to detect,” Stewart said, “once you know what to look for.
Stewart notes more than 400 adults have learned beekeeping basics through programs at Oatland Island in the last five years. And his group, the Coastal Empire Beekeeper’s Association, now boasts more than 130 members.