The Salisbury Township public hearing for the new township zoning ordinance took an unexpected turn when a township couple who raises bees objected to a portion of the measure they claim is too restrictive.

Long-time township residents, Dr. Richard J. Cusick and his wife Norma, a former township commissioner recently reappointed to the Lehigh County Authority board, said the ordinance's setback rules for beekeeping would make it prohibitive for them to continue to pursue their hobby.

The ordinance stipulates beekeeping cannot take place 30 feet or less from a lot line of any dwelling or a street and, if the beekeeping activity takes place 30 to 60 feet from the lot line, a six-foot-high fence would be required.

"It doesn't make sense," Dr. Cusick said during the zoning ordinance public hearing held soon after the start of the 7 p.m. March 12 township commissioners' meeting.

Cusick, who said he and his wife have been members of the Lehigh Valley Beekeepers Association for three years, introduced the association's president Steve Finke, who is also vice president of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association.

"Beyond 30 feet, there's no problem with keeping the bees," Finke asserted.

The requirement was not in the township's previous zoning ordinance.

"It was an amendment to the definition of pets," Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano said.

"Bees are not pets," Commissioner Vice President Debra Brinton replied.

"Between 30 and 60 feet, you need a fence," Atty. John W. Ashley, township and planning commission solicitor who chaired the public hearing said.

"Would the township consider changing that because we like to raise bees," Norma Cusick said, who said her family's East Emmaus Avenue property has a private residence on one side and Salisbury Township School District land on the other.

Commissioners are expected to consider adoption of the new zoning ordinance at the next meeting, 7 p.m. March 26, township municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Avenue.

"If we make a substantive change, we have to redo the whole process," Soriano said of the zoning ordinance.

"There's been an awful lot of colony collapse and we would just like to have one or two beehives to keep colonies alive in the Lehigh Valley," Norma Cusick said.

"There's been an initiative from the state in training for beekeepers," Salisbury Township Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka said, noting the "Introduction To Beekeeping Class" held at Lehigh Carbon Community College.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's program is called the "Bee Informed Partnership."

"This is considered an agriculture product," Sopka said of beekeeping, adding, "Bees do not have a tendency to attack. And they fly vertically."

"It's a benign hobby," Dr. Cusick said. "Our grandchildren help us tend the bees.

"There is a need to realize that people can make a difference by raising bees," Dr. Cusick said, adding, "This is a small change in one township."

Cusick estimated it would cost $10,000 to put up the required fence. "I want to keep my bees. If this goes through, I cannot keep my bees."

After the approximate 30-minute hearing, it was explained the Cusicks could file an appeal with township Zoning Hearing Board, requesting a variance or special exception for beekeeping.

Another possibility is the Cusicks' beekeeping activity could be "grandfathered," or allowed to continue because it was already taking place before the new ordinance.

"We can't stop somebody from doing anything that they're doing now," Ashley said in answer to a question from a reporter for Salisbury Press.