By Vincent Bradshaw and Matt PresserThe Daily Northwestern

Aldermen will make a final decision on whether a 14-year-old boy will be allowed to keep a hive of 12,000 bees in his south Evanston backyard at tonight’s Evanston City Council meeting.

The issue was originally proposed in May, when a neighbor objected to Evanston Township High School sophomore Gabriel Jacobs’ plan to take up beekeeping as a hobby.

Neighbors cited concerns that the bees would fly away from Jacobs’ hive and cause either injury or damage to their property.

An ordinance, which was introduced at a meeting last month, would not ban beekeeping, but would instead limit the number of hives per ward and impose setback requirements between hives and neighboring homes.

Susan Dickman, Jacobs’s mother, said she and her son will be at the meeting, along with some neighbors who support the hives.

“I think it’s kind of silly given the fact that bees don’t know how many feet they’re flying,” Dickman said.

“People are disgusted with this waste of time – this was a non-issue.”

Also on tonight’s agenda is an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance that has been held in committee since June.

The ordinance would require some residential developers to set aside a percentage of their construction projects as “affordable” housing by local standards.

Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) said how the City Council designs the ordinance will determine “whether or not people continue to come to Evanston.”

“The discussion will take into account the impact on future development,” he said. “We will make sure the ordinance we put together does not discourage the developers.”

Both the beekeeping issue and the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance have been on the Council’s radar for a number of months, so it is uncertain if either or both will be accepted at tonight’s meeting or if the issue will take more debate.

Reach Matthew Presser at [email protected] Vincent Bradshaw at [email protected].