Norcross Residents Can Now Join the Ranks of Beekeepers

At Monday night’s lightning quick city council meeting, it may have been easy to overlook the change in a city ordinance that will now allow people to keep honeybees in the city limits of Norcross.  

The ordinance forbids the raising of livestock at home, a throwback of a time when municipalities didn’t want the residents of a then-rural Gwinnett to bring their farms into the city with them. Now, a person in a one family residence district can keep honey bees for “personal pleasure or utility” as long as their lot is 10,000 square feet or larger and the hives aren’t within 5 feet of the property line. 

Beekeeping has become a popular part of the urban farming movement, an interesting full-circle return to the original purpose of the ordinance: Many large cities, including Los Angeles, New York City and Minneapolis, have recently moved to allow beekeeping, even in dense neighborhoods, to encourage the pollination of gardens and the production of local honey. But the beekeeping movement is not without its controversy.

“Beekeeping and home gardens just go hand in hand,” said Dr. Keith Delaplane, author of First Lessons in Beekeeping and professor of Entomology at the University of Georgia, who has worked with honeybees for 33 years. He said the change in the Norcross ordinance is a very positive thing for the community.

“The pollination benefits are just tremendous,” said Delaplane. “The foraging range is measured in the miles so the benefit is definitely for your neighbor's as well as your garden—whether they appreciate it or not.” 

Delaplane said that an increasing amount of American crops require pollination yet there’s a shortage of pollinators to do the work. “There is a real deficit of bees,” he said. 

Connie Weathers, chair of Sustainable Norcross, brought the idea to the attention of the Council with the help of Mayor Pro-Tem Ross Kaul. She says her husband’s father kept bees and her husband first became interested in the idea back in the ‘70s. Now her son, Mike Weathers, produces local honey that’s sold at the Whistlestop Market, a task his 11-year-old son helps out with. “So now it’s a four-generation interest for us,” she said. “It is just a great leaning opportunity for kids.”

It never occurred to Weathers that she would even need to ask permission if she wanted to start keeping bees in her home garden until she and Kaul began exchanging emails about the subject.

Mike Weathers, who runs Buffalo Lick Farm & Nursery, said the demand for his local honey has far outstripped the supply at the market. One reason, he thinks, is that people who suffer from allergies believe that the locally produced honey can build up their tolerance to allergens. “They think that the local pollen used in making the honey builds up their immunity,” he said.

On a good year, Mr. Weathers said he could get 100 pounds of honey from a single hive, though a person can usually expect to harvest about 60 pounds.  Mr. Weathers said that an average person consumes about a pound and a half of honey every year, so it’s possible to stock the pantry for years with just one hive. (And, interestingly, honey is one of the only products that won’t go bad on the shelf.)

Whether or not that allergy benefit can be proven, Mr. Weathers said he sees other reasons why producing your own sticky stuff can be good: Like any local good, it reduces the carbon emmisions associated with shipping, he said.  Also, you know exactly what is in the product if you harvest it with your own two hands.

And there’s the taste. “Honey is like wine. It really takes on the flavor of the flowers around it,” said Mrs. Weathers. She said a family member ran our of Mike’s honey so bought the regular stuff at the grocery story and was shocked by the difference.

After one person was killed in Albany last year from African bees, there has been some fear and panic surrounding all bees. “The trouble is that suddenly people think every bee they see is an African bee,” said Delaplane. But in his opinion, it is absolutely safe to keep honeybees as long as common sense is practiced.

In coastal Georgia, agriculture officials are preparing for the introduction of the aggressive species again this season and attempting to prevent cross breeding with local species. In fact, the local beekeepers will be on the front line of the battle to contain and destroy the invading species, according to the Florida Times-Union.

The cost of investing in the proper equipment for a hive is about $500; Buffalo Lick Farm will rent and upkeep a hive on your property for $300 per year, allowing you to keep the honey. Experts recommend contacting your local beekeeping club to check into seminars. The Metro Beekeepers Association meets at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.