Adults with developmental disabilities are tending a beehive in a Gahanna church parking lot, checking on the colony every 10 to 14 days and planning to sell honey-based candles and lip balms to fund their own program.

The hive outside Peace Lutheran Church on Clark State Road is Gahanna's first fully wheelchair-accessible beehive, NBC4 reported Monday, Aug. 3. It opened in June with funding from the city's 2025 Community Grant Program.

Built lower to the ground than a standard hive, the structure features pull-out drawers so a person in a wheelchair can inspect the bees without standing. Participants in Creative Options, a day program for adults with developmental disabilities based at 560 Officenter Place in Gahanna, do the beekeeping.

"They will examine the bees, make sure they are healthy, do any kind of treatments that they need to, make sure they have water, and during times where there are not enough flowers, they will feed them," Creative Options Advocacy President Tiffany Hanna told NBC4.

The program plans to harvest the honey and turn it into products like candles and lip balms. Sales will raise money for Creative Options.

The City of Gahanna said the grant supports the Creative Options Advocacy Council's mission to provide inclusive vocational opportunities. The city called the structure an "adaptive beehive" that offers hands-on learning about sustainability, pollination and environmental stewardship.

The grant amount awarded to Creative Options has not been publicly disclosed, and the program has not announced when honey products will go on sale or whether the public can visit the hive.

Gahanna has been a certified Bee City USA community since 2017, a national designation recognizing cities committed to pollinator conservation. The city's 2024 annual report shows it maintains 18 acres of prairie and recently created a new pollinator garden with a local Girl Scout troop.