VANCOUVER – Vancouver is moving ahead with plans to make the city greener by installing beehives on the roof of city hall.
In a memo circulated to all staff this week, the city said that in an effort to make Vancouver the greenest city in the world, there will be a demonstration beehive project on the roof of the east wing. The demonstration will include the installation of two hives.
The memo said that while there was not expected to be “any significant concentration of bees around city hall, persons with allergies to bee sting should take appropriate precautions.”
Coun. Andrea Reimer, a member of the city’s Green Action Team who is allergic to bee stings, said “appropriate precautions” do not include staff staying home or wearing protective clothing because the bees will be so high up that “there really is no chance of human interaction” for city workers.
“Honeybees are not aggressive like wasps,” Reimer said. “They do swarm when they are leaving the hive and I know that sounds like a horror movie, but it’s not. They are flying at high levels.
“Obviously there is the chance of bees in the garden, and so it’s not like the possibility doesn’t exist of getting stung but the chances of getting stung by a bee are so low compared to wasps. People who are allergic should be taking precautions anyway.”
Keeping bees in the city was illegal until 2003, when the ban was overturned so that bees could help pollinate trees and urban gardens.
“Now we know if we don’t have pollinators, we don’t have tomatoes or cherry blossoms,” Reimer said.
Since the law was reversed in 2003, there has been no increase in hospital emergency room visits because of bee stings, she said.
Reimer said the project will not cost taxpayers any money. She said she understands the beekeeper will benefit from selling the honey.
Allen Garr, an apiarist and columnist for the Vancouver Courier newspaper, confirmed Thursday that he will be the beekeeper at city hall. He said the project will be unveiled sometime in May.
Garr is also the beekeeper at the new Vancouver Convention Centre, where there are four beehives. The 2.4-hectare green roof is the largest in Canada and is home to about 60,000 bees.
The apiarist also has hives all over the city, including several at the University of B.C., Science World, and VanDusen Botanical Garden.
“I’m as busy as a bee,” he said of his growing business.
The intention behind the city plan is to introduce more bees and increase local food production by also increasing the number of urban gardens.
Honeybees are the most common pollinators in Canada.
ticrawford@vancouversun.com
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