VILLAS – The state Department of Agriculture sent a letter to Lower Township saying the regulation of beekeeping was none of their beeswax.
The department advised the township that an ordinance it passed in 2012 permitting beekeeping throughout Lower Township, and establishing rules and regulations to govern beekeeping, was preempted by state statute.
Ordinance 2023-16 was introduced by Lower Township Council, Aug. 7, to repeal the section of the municipal code that governs beekeeping. The ordinance cites N.J.S.A. 40:48-1.5(a)(1) and (2), which specifically says, “No municipality may adopt an ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulation concerning the breeding or keeping of honeybees activities related thereto…or establish any restriction or requirement that would result in the prohibition of the breeding or keeping of honey bees.”
“We have to get rid of beekeeping because the state says we have no say,” Councilman Thomas Conrad said.
Conrad did not mean people have to get rid of beehives. Speaking to the Herald later in the week, Conrad said the state simply announced it had “exclusive authority over the regulation of beekeeping activities,” adding that the state Department of Agriculture has established uniform rules governing beekeeping throughout the state.
The state Department of Agriculture posted a short press release on its website saying, “It has recently come to the attention of NJDA that some New Jersey municipalities have local ordinances that restrict or prohibit beekeeping activities throughout their town or in certain parts of their town (such as residential areas). Such local beekeeping ordinances have not been allowed in New Jersey since 2015. They are preempted by N.J.S.A. 40:48-1.5, which gives exclusive authority over the regulation of beekeeping and apiary activities to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.”
“What they are doing is, anyone who has an ordinance for beekeeping, they have to get rid of it,” Conrad said.
Conrad said the township was trying to support beekeeping when it developed its ordinance. He said the motivation was to help preserve the bee population, which is needed to pollenate flowers and plants.
“We need bees, so we pushed it through and the beekeepers loved us,” Conrad said.
He said the ordinance was crafted with input from the local beekeepers, following state guidelines. However, in 2015, the state said beekeeping was solely under the state Department of Agriculture.
In 2012, Jen Sawyer Caraballo was an active member of the Jersey Cape Beekeepers Association and followed the development of the Lower Township ordinance with great interest. Sawyer Caraballo is county program associate for commercial agriculture at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension in Court House. She was aware that the state was being very stringent in it allowing Lower Township to regulate apiaries (a collection of beehives) and beekeeping.
“A few years later, they decided to regulate beekeeping under the DOA (state Department of Agriculture),” she said.
Sawyer Caraballo also remembered the concern people had with people keeping bees in residential areas, mainly citing a fear that someone who was allergic would be stung. In 2012, it was pointed out that keeping beehives out of neighborhoods would not keep stinging insects out, as well.
“Bees travel up to 3 miles from their hive to forage,” Sawyer Caraballo said.
It was also pointed out that there are other stinging insects besides honeybees.
Sawyer Caraballo said the ordinance that Lower Township had passed was actually more stringent than the state statute. For example, Lower Township was restricting the owner of a half-acre of ground to two beehives. The state statute allows three hives on a half-acre. If someone owns more than an acre of land, they can keep three beehives per quarter acre up to 40 beehives.
“I think the state worked with the Legislature and (beekeeping) associations to find the best practices, including the number of hives based on area. Lower Township had required them to be in backyards only, and the yard had to be fenced, and the hives a certain distance from walkways,” Sawyer Caraballo said.
She said the Jersey Cape Beekeepers Association still offers a class running from February to April. If anyone has questions on beekeeping regulations, they can contact the state Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry at 609-406-6939.
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
