Homeowner bee-gone? Orange County evicts man over honeybee hives
Beekeeper Mike Powers got stung last month by an Orange County code-enforcement order which deemed his well-kept Orlando-area home to be “unfit for human occupancy.”
The reason? His backyard bees.
And while the county backed down five days later — state law grants Florida residents the express right to keep bees on their property — the whole thing has left Powers, a military veteran with two decades of experience tending honeybee hives, mad as a hornet.
“No warning, no due process, nothing, just get out,” he said in an interview in his backyard, an edible garden where he grows bananas, coffee beans, papaya, peaches, pineapple and sweet potatoes — and also tends to a small apiary of buzzing pollinators.
It all started Feb. 28, county records show, when a neighbor called code enforcement to complain “the bees stung her all the time.”
A code compliance officer then slapped a bright orange notice on Powers’ door a week later declaring his home on Lake Anderson Avenue to be unsafe and unlawful to occupy. The officer left her business card with a message scrawled on the back, “remove stinging insects.”
The county directive panicked him. Powers said he made arrangements to stay with friends and left voicemails for lawyers.
Scott Glass, a land-use lawyer with the Orlando firm of Shutts & Bowen, got one of them.
“It irked me,” Glass said.
He didn’t know Powers, but the lawyer said he has friends who keep bees and recognize the honeybee role in our food chain.
“I’m not a tree-hugger,” Glass said. “But, seriously! They kicked a man out of his house because of a beehive in the backyard.”
The lawyer said he sent Florida’s beekeeping statute to the code-compliance officer, copying Orange County Attorney Jeff Newton, and adding a suggestion that county officials “rein these people in” before their actions exposed the county to a lawsuit.
State law reserves regulation of all beekeeping activities to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
About a decade ago, beekeeping disputes were more abuzz in Florida courts.
“Though state law had allowed people to keep bees, back then, when code enforcement showed up, they usually had enough clout to shut the beekeeper down,” said John Coldwell, president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association. “Slowly but surely, most counties came to know the rules.”
He said one phone call from a state apiary inspector can usually avoid what happened in Orange County.
Public records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show that a state apiary inspector called the code-compliance officer to inform her that Powers had been approved for honeybees on his property. He returned home five days after leaving.
Glass then sent an email to the code enforcement officer.
“I am, of course, hoping this was a one-off and that any future questions or complaints about Backyard Beekeepers in Orange County will be directed to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as the appropriate enforcement authority,” he wrote. “I have, however, advised Mr. Powers that if he or any other Backyard Beekeepers run into this issue in the future he or they should give me a call.”
On Friday, a spokesperson for Orange County declined to answer specific questions about the code enforcement action, but did acknowledge that the state — not the county — has the power to regulate beekeeping.
Florida has more than 5,000 registered beekeepers, including commercial apiaries and hobbyists.
Powers said he keeps bees for fun, not to make money from honey.
Coldwell offered some advice to keepers whose neighbors wrongly believe honey bees are dangerous.
“I’ll tell you this: if someone bitches about bees, a jar of honey usually shuts everyone up,” he said.
