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Councilmember Riley commented that the ordinance reads a lot better and is more user friendly, <br />and resident friendly. He asked Staff who enforce this, if this document gives them the power <br />needed to handle problems. <br /> <br />Planning Technician McCann replied he believed it does. He thinks code enforcement and day- <br />to-day planning will continue with this new ordinance. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated this will come back for an introduction at the next meeting on <br />January 11, 2022. <br /> <br />th <br />Jared Little, 7590 149 Lane NW, stated he has been a beekeeper for about 11 years. He has taught <br />some college courses in agriculture and is part of a beekeeping board in Stillwater. He is in the <br />process of getting his master beekeeper certification and would love to see more people interested <br />in beekeeping. He was asked to speak to the ordinance to make it more user friendly for other <br />beekeepers coming afterwards. The questions he got through email indicated there was concern <br />over the quantity per acreage. He wasn’t sure what the concerns were exactly but he was open to <br />questions. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich referenced a chart that lists lot sizes and the number of hives allowed. <br />4 acres allows up to 40 hives, as the acreage goes down, that number decreases. <br /> <br />Councilmember Heineman referenced language included that says “the hive shall not exceed 20 <br />cubic feet in volume” and asked for perspective what the dimensions might be. <br /> <br />Mr. Little replied that is larger than any hive he has ever seen and he has seen large ones. The <br />dimension of most hives are 16 by 20. A 20 cubic foot hive would have to be close to eight feet <br />tall, which he doesn’t think will ever been an issue. Mr. Little said that occasionally a very strong <br />hive can be present that is a high producing honey hive but even if a bee keeper would start to get <br />a hive that is close to that size, they can remove honey and reduce the cubic feet if that did occur <br />but it is very unlikely. <br /> <br />Councilmember Heineman asked if this is referring to the actual physical hive itself, not the <br />container that contains the hive. <br /> <br />Mr. Little confirmed this adding that a hive will almost never contain more than 100,000 bees, <br />which would be a very healthy hive. He explained bees cap themselves out as far as the number <br />of bees but will continue to add honey. It is preferable to make sure bees have extra space to avoid <br />swarming. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff asked if the number of hives listed seemed adequate for a reasonable <br />installment of bees. <br /> <br />Mr. Little replied that it is workable, yes. Before, it used to be only six with no regard to the lot <br />size within the City limits of Ramsey. That is difficult because in order for a beekeeper to be <br />sustainable, they need to be able to create future hives. He explained that instead of letting the <br />bees swarm and find another location, it is best to be ahead of it by taking out frames to make <br />City Council Work Session / December 14, 2021 <br />Page 3 of 10 <br /> <br />