Bee group president asks city to change ordinance that prohibits beekeeping

CLINTON — Clinton residents might eventually be permitted to keep bees if city commissioners decide to change the ordinance.

Tera Kaupraun, of the Sangamon Valley Beekeepers Association, recently addressed the Clinton City Council about allowing residents to keep bees.  Clinton currently has an ordinance barring the keeping of bees and nuisances.

“I’ve been a beekeeper for the past five years, and I sell honey here on the square at the Farmers Market,” Kaupraun said. 

Kaupraun’s club conducts a beginning beekeeping class each winter, and she said they typically see people from Clinton interested in keeping bees. 

“But, then, they find out they aren’t allowed to within city limits,” Kaupraun said.

She also said many people had approached her during the Farmers Market interested in keeping hives on their property.

• Read the complete story in the Friday, Sept. 15 print edition of the Clinton Journal or now in the Journal E-Edition for subscribers.