The Honey Bees need your help, this Wednesday Hatfield Firehouse

To all Hatfield Borough Residents, and the surrounding communities, your presence is requested this Wednesday Evening at 7:30 at the Hatfield Fire House to let your voice be heard in opposition to Proposed Ordinance 533

Save the Honey Bees, they need all of our help!

Without the objective standard of truth and fairness upon which we base our society, the result is that whoever gains the most political power will dominate. Ordinances should be based not only on truth, but to form a basis of all our civil constitutions and fair laws, which will serve all citizens, not just to benefit a few. Our "unalienable rights" are unalienable because they were given by God, and should not be stripped or limited based on ordinances that lack any merit or substance.

Our journey over the past couple of months has truly opened our eyes to the inner workings of local government.

The extent and duration of the complaints, do not justify the time, tax payer dollars, and efforts, which have been spent in the drafting of Proposed Ordinance 533, by the Council Members, Borough Manager of the Borough of Hatfield. Many Borough residents listed so many more important issues they felt council could be focusing on.

We have been responsible Beekeepers for over 25 years, with zero complaints from anybody. In the past 10 years we have had as many has 20 Hives, which have consisted of 5 frame nucleus colonies, not the normal 10 frame Langstroth Hives. Currently we have 14 hives (nine nucleus colonies which equates to 4.5 normal 10 frame hives) we also have four 10 frame Langstroth Hives and One Horizontal Hive). The Proposed ordinance does not take into consideration the hive size and capacity, and extensive experience level of the beekeeper. If this was factored into the calculation, our hive count would only be over by one Hive per the Ordinance, based on our corrected Montgomery County Property Map. The time and money required to take a basic beekeeping course for a 25 year experienced beekeeper is an absolute injustice.

The nature of the harm which is alleged by several of the complainants, who have presented their objections to the quantity of Hives, have provided no legal, factual or medical proof to the reported events to substantiate their claims, which they presented to Borough Council, yet council quickly acted on the drafting of an ordinance, based on a few unsubstantiated complaints. The drafting of the ordinance was done so with little to no knowledge of Honey Bees, including the actual condition or configuration of the Apiary of the only Beekeeper in Hatfield Borough. One Sunday a few weeks back, a neutral neighbor asked for our help with yellow Jackets under his porch, he indicated that two of the children were stung by the yellow Jackets, and not our Honey Bees. I guess the honey bees are not afforded the benefit of being considered innocent until proven guilty.

We have received hundreds of emails, which were sent to the Borough Council and copied to us, many of these emails coming from law abiding, tax paying voters, who live in Hatfield Borough. It is very apparent their voice has fallen on deaf ears, as nothing substantial within the proposed ordinance has changed since it was first drafted and presented to the public. Even the first hand testimony of the PA Department of Agriculture Apiarist, on the vital importance that honey bees play in Pollinating over 90 different agricultural crops in Pennsylvania, her message was truly not heard . In that, the passing of Ordinance 533 will no doubt have a contagious effect, as other Boroughs and Townships, will follow Hatfield Boroughs lead. The potential impact to the loss of managed Honey Bee colonies could be devastating on Pennsylvania's economy. Pollinators play a critical role in our natural, agricultural and urban ecosystems. In addition to being essential for crop production, pollinators support diverse plant communities and the animals that depend on them. Healthy plant communities also support critical ecosystem functions, such as maintaining a balance of clean air and clean water by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and preventing soil erosion. There are 4,500 registered beekeepers in PA so the effects of this ordinance could be far reaching. There are no Beekeeping ordinances on this side of the state, if we are to believe that Beekeeping is a serious threat to human health and safety, or a nuisance to small densely populated neighborhoods, this is surely not evidenced by an abundance of local government restrictions or ordinances in our region. Philadelphia County and New York City are both Bee Friendly Cities, each having much greater population density, than Hatfield Borough. The President of Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association told us "the best Beekeeping ordinance is "NO ORDINANCE", we could not agree more, considering the spiral effect Ordinance 533 could have state wide.

A few of the articles contained in the ordinance are in stark contrast with the recommended beekeeping best practices, being endorsed by the Pa Department of Agriculture , who is the regulatory authority for Honey Bees in PA. In fact, by Hatfield Borough Council, not endorsing and including the recommendation for following PA's Best Practices, has the potential to cause great harm and detriment to the Honey Bees, it could also cause some unintended concerns to residents (increased swarming). Granted compliance of Best Practices is voluntary, but it is an important document that goes a long way in offering great guidance for a new beekeeper.

While swarming is a natural event that occurs in the spring, a swarm of honey bees hanging in a nearby tree, to a neighbor can appear visually very scary, but they pose little to no threat to humans. In this transitional state, they have no hive to protect and are only seeking a new home. No matter how dedicated a Beekeeper is to his or her hives, swarms cannot be completely prevented, but with the exclusion of a provision within the proposed ordinance to allow the beekeeper, some latitude for hive division in the spring, by retaining the emerging nucleolus colonies for up to 90 days, to allow for supplemental feeding and to ensure the fertility of the queen before the Honey Bees go to their forever home, the potential for swarming significantly increases.

The motivation of the original complainant is questionable, and we believe she coerced most if not all of the other neighbors to join her fact-less based witch hunt , as evidenced by no complaints ever, in the 25 plus years , we have been keeping Honey Bees. We are to then believe, miraculously within a two-month period, 3 more complaints were lodged, one of which was the main complainant's tenant, who has since purchased a home and moved. This tenant had never utilized his yard, long before the Honey Bee hives were anywhere near his line of sight.

The feasibility of the Ordinance in mitigating or preventing any harm to humans has no merit, and is not based on science or common knowledge of Beekeeping. Honey bees travel 2-5 miles for nectar and pollen. While we enjoy our extensive patios, gardens, hammock, spending many hours daily in our back yard in the spring and summer, with no interference by the Honey Bees, we show respect for them and they do the same for us.

Locality and suitability of the Honey Bee Hives have posed zero threat to human life, or the normal enjoyment of human activities. Our hive density is well within expert recommendations. This is based on abundant forage sources within a 2-5 mile range, which has resulted year after year in a substantial surplus of honey and pollen, going into the fall winter season. The Honey Bees are surely not hanging around our neighborhood, other than our garden sanctuary, which I will mention my husband Keith and daughter Brittany, spend countless hours planting, weeding and grooming, most of the yards in our neighborhood, have little to nothing to offer the honey bees.

The drafting for the proposed ordinance lacks any underlying basis of validity or truth. It contradicts most rules of reason, and removes the practicality of beekeeping from within the reach for most new Beekeepers. This due to the restrictiveness and redundant requirements of certain portions of the Proposed Ordinance, many of which go against the rules of nature, pertaining to basic bee biology and behavior.