Birds, bunnies – and bees, please

As Sonoma’s backyard farming ordinance moves forward, citizens and councilmembers continue to ponder its limits. Chickens and rabbits are in. Pigs and cattle are out. And so are bees. Bees? Who could ban bees?
Councilmember Stanley Cohen raised the issue before the council meeting Wednesday night, saying he’d received a request from members of the agricultural community that the bee ban be reconsidered. He requested of City Manager Linda Kelly that they put this on the agenda at a future meeting. Kelly noted that she had received two e-mails from people wanting the bee ban lifted and that they could take the matter up after the second reading of the ordinance.
Other persisting agricultural questions included the nature of rooster permits. Councilmember August Sebastiani, who has consistently vouched for the atmospheric value of roosters, asked whether the rooster permit was transferable – does it go with the individual, and move with him from property to property, or is it attached to the property? In one earlier discussion, it seemed the permit was attached to the rooster and upon his demise, terminated as well. Linda Kelly tried to sum it up. “So is the permit for the property or for the individual?” Sebastiani said, “I had intended that it belong to the owner as long as he was in that property. So if the property is transferred, the permit would then lapse.” Sonoma Planning Director David Goodison said, “I think that’s an administrative issue. We’d have to determine who that permit was issued to, whether the property owner, or tenant.”
Finally, moving on to rabbits before concluding the topic, Cohen said he’d received another e-mail questioning how fast rabbits can multiply. “Our control,” he said, “is: if there are more than eight rabbits, they’re not in compliance, and a neighbor can contact the police will deal with what the ordinance has to say.”
Sonoma police Sgt. Dave Thompson, sitting at the back of the room, was heard to say, “And we’ll hop right on it.”