[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township
of Shaler 10-10-2006 by Ord. No.
1848[1]. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall
have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context of their
usage clearly indicates another meaning:
Any place where one or more colonies or nuclei of bees are
kept.
Any stage of the common hive or honeybee (Apis mellifera)
or other species of the genus Apis.
An owner of an apiary or a person who has charge of an apiary
or one or more colonies of bees in Shaler Township.
The policies, procedures and methods contained in the compliance
agreement for beekeepers who are certified by the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture.
An aggregate of bees consisting principally of workers, but
having, when perfect, one queen and at times many drones, including
brood, combs, honey and the receptacle inhabited by the bees.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Any frame hive, box hive, box, barrel, log, gum, skep or
other receptacle or container, natural or artificial, or any part
thereof, which may be used or employed as a domicile for bees.
Includes all colonies owned by an individual and located
in any permanent location or locations within Shaler Township.
The Township of Shaler.
A contiguous parcel of land under common ownership.
Any idle land that is not improved or actually in the process
of being improved with residential, commercial, industrial, church,
park, school or governmental facilities or other structures or improvements
intended for human use or occupancy and the grounds maintained in
association therewith. The term shall be deemed to include property
developed exclusively as a street or highway or property used for
commercial agricultural purposes.
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to avoid problems that may otherwise
be associated with the keeping of bees in populated areas.
B.
Notwithstanding compliance with the various requirements of this
chapter, it shall be unlawful for any beekeepers to keep any colony
or colonies in such a manner or of such disposition as to cause any
unhealthy condition, interfere with the normal use and enjoyment of
human or animal life of others, or interfere with the normal use and
enjoyment of any public property or property of others.
B.
All beekeepers owning or maintaining an apiary in the Township shall
also register all bee apiaries located in Shaler Township with the
Township Zoning Officer.
C.
All beekeepers owning or maintaining an apiary in the Township shall
practice those best management practices as set forth by the Department.
D.
It shall be unlawful to maintain or to be the owner of an apiary
located in the Township without first obtaining from the Department
a best management certification and executing the Department's
Compliance Agreement for Beekeepers.
E.
All beekeepers owning or maintaining an apiary in the Township shall
promptly notify the Township Zoning Officer without unnecessary delay
and in no event longer than 48 hours if the Department revokes such
beekeeper's best management certification.
In each instance in which any colony is situated within 25 feet
of a public or private property line of the tract upon which the apiary
is situated, as measured from the nearest point on the hive to the
property line, all beekeepers shall establish and maintain a flyway
barrier at least six feet in height, consisting of a solid wall, fence,
dense vegetation or combination thereof that is parallel to the property
line and extends 20 feet beyond the colony in each direction so that
all bees are forced to fly at an elevation of at least six feet above
ground level over the property lines in the vicinity of the apiary.
All beekeepers in Shaler Township shall ensure that a convenient
source of fresh water is available to the bees at all times during
the year so that the bees will not congregate at swimming pools, pet
watering bowls, bird baths or other water sources where they may cause
human, bird or domestic pet contact.
Any person who shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply with
any of the terms or provisions of this chapter or any regulation or
requirement pursuant thereto and authorized thereby or who shall fail,
neglect or refuse to remove any unlawful colony or colonies without
unnecessary delay shall, upon conviction before any Magisterial District
Judge, be sentenced to pay a fine of $600 per day for each and every
offense as well as costs of prosecution and, in default of payment
thereof, to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 10 days. Whenever
such person shall have been notified that he or she is committing
such a violation of this chapter, each day that he or she shall continue
such violation after such notification shall constitute a separate
offense punishable by a like fine or penalty.
