Santa Rosa orders boy beekeeper to remove hives; relents after negative buzz from community

By John Ramos

The City of Santa Rosa stirred up a hornet’s nest of outrage after ordering a 9-year-old boy to remove a 4-H beekeeping project from his home. But after the beekeeping community and other resident accused officials of overreacting, it appears the city is reconsidering its position.

When Nicholas Bard first began raising bees in his backyard as a 4-H project, he had no idea what a learning experience it would be.

“An incredible one,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest, the best decision I’ve made, ever.”

He’s become quite an expert on the subject and was willing to share some of that knowledge. Nicholas said bees aren’t naturally aggressive, except when the hive is threatened, and they post guard bees at the entrance to keep watch. His parents, Zachary and Sara, help him lift off the various sections of the hive when it comes time to check on the honey production.

“We get involved because we’ve all sort of fallen in love with them. But these are definitely his bees,” said Zachary Bard.

“We’ll sit out here and just watch the bees go in and out of the hive. Sometimes it’s our television,” said Sara Bard, laughing. “It’s really mesmerizing. It’s very relaxing, very peaceful.”

Worker bees in the hive are all females, and they – with other pollinators – are essential to plants and help produce about 75% of the nation’s food crops. But, at some point, a general fear of bees led Santa Rosa to ban beekeeping, and in March, after a neighbor complained, the Bards received a letter calling Nicholas’s 4-H project an illegal “home occupation.”

The letter demanded the removal of the bee colony and threatened that a warrant would be issued, if necessary, to inspect the property. In the city’s ordinance, it classifies honey bees in the category of “property nuisances.”

“How did it feel, girls?” said Nicholas, turning to speak to his bees. “Horrible, they say. It was like having one of your family members being bullied. Because that’s what was happening.”

The Bards appealed the decision, but the city stood firm.

“I think maybe they just thought they would enforce it on us and the problem would go away,” said Zachary Bard. “So, we had them look back 30 years, and over 30 years nobody’s ever, they’ve never enforced that code. First time, yeah.”

That’s when the beekeeping community got involved, including Ettamarie Peterson, who mentors young beekeepers throughout the county and is affectionately known as “Sonoma’s Queen Bee.”

“You know, dealing with Santa Rosa, I’m not sure. They’ve gotta fix that,” she said.

Peterson estimated there are more than 100 beehives currently in Santa Rosa. And she said it seemed like the city officials she spoke to were surprised to even discover that beekeeping was illegal in their city.

“I said, ‘This boy is nine years old! This is not an occupation. It’s a learning experience through 4-H,'” Peterson said. “The next guy up the line disagreed and said that Nicholas had to get rid of his bees. And I said, ‘Oh my goodness, we’ve got to do something about this.”

But now, it looks like there’s been a change of heart, which could lead to a change in the law.

“We received over 100 emails from people in support of beekeeping in the city,” said Santa Rosa Public Information Officer Misti Wood. “We decided that instead of going through that process, we were going to find a better path forward. And that path forward was a staff-initiated zoning code amendment.”

Woods said staff is now consulting with a local beekeeping group to draft a new ordinance that would allow limited beekeeping within the city limits. She said it will probably be submitted to the City Council for approval sometime next year. In the meantime, Nicholas gets to keep his hive. 

Nicholas, who said he’s never been stung by one of his bees, couldn’t resist saying, “I told you so.”

“I just want to thank whoever complained for this amazing experience,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’ve learned so much about politics and how cities work.”

And when asked which ran smoother, his beehive or City Hall, he said, “A beehive, definitely. I mean, they don’t have waste. They’re not bullying anybody. They don’t fight at all. So, yeah, I love teaching people, so, that was a really great opportunity.”