North Battleford has an influx of new residents. Unfortunately, they have wings, feathers and claws and do not bother to pay any property taxes.
The residents are pigeons that have come to the community in droves in recent years, seeking food and free accommodations in buildings and on rooftops and trees around the city.
So many pigeons are calling North Battleford home human neighbours are fed up. While the birds may look friendly and non-violent, people complain they are messy and unwelcome neighbours.
Residents complain the birds frequently use busy city streets as public washrooms and personal dumping grounds, particularly near downtown banks. The pigeons have set up residence in run down buildings and other locations around the city, becoming an eyesore for locals and visitors alike and frustrating local efforts to clean up the community.
City Manager Jim Toye has only to look out his office window to notice the growing pigeon population.
"I see them regularly go from building to building," Toye said, acknowledging the pigeons are a "nuisance" for local residents.
Complaints have piled up at city hall where the issue of North Battleford's pigeon population dominated discussion Monday night. Councillor Don Buglas raised the issue during the "announcements and inquiries" portion of that night's council meeting.
Buglas said he was picking up an egg left in his yard recently and a neighbour remarked "that reminds me of the pigeons."
"People are wondering what can be done, or if anything can be done, about some of our problem areas where pigeons are located," said Buglas.
Toye responded that he had been speaking to the bylaw enforcement people about the issue, but noted tackling the pigeon problem isn't easy.
"If you take care of one pigeon area, they move to another," Toye said.
Toye said the issue was one the city needed to take a harder look at. He noted the difficulty of having poison programs, because "the nice birds along with the nuisance birds go down."
He said the City plans to look at "best practices" from other communities to see what worked, and then come up with a process that would solve the problem.
"We certainly know there are pigeons around the city," Toye said. "They are noticeable, and hopefully this year we will be able to come up with some type of program to deter them."
He didn't think they would ever all be gone, though.
Some sections of the city have been notorious for pigeons. One of the buildings discussed was the run-down property on 11th Avenue, behind the Scotiabank building on 101st Street.
That abandoned building has been a source of several complaints, with local residents complaining about the droppings the pigeons routinely leave both on 11th Avenue and on 101st Street. Cameras captured images of pigeons making their home inside the notorious "Bird Hotel" last fall, during the height of its infestation last year. Bbirds seen flying into the building through broken windows. Feathers and bird-do could be seen in the alleyway and on building windows facing the street.
The building is currently owned by the City. Toye said the city wants to demolish the building. However, the building shares a wall with a privately-owned property that used to house the old 小蓝视频 Vietnam Restaurant.
That makes it difficult to bring the "Bird Hotel" down without destabilizing the wall on the old 小蓝视频 Vietnam location, Toye said. That would expose North Battleford to liability issues, he said.
The city has been seeking a deal with the neighbouring property owners to bring both buildings down at the same time and said it would all "come down tomorrow" if the City had its way.
Councilor Trent Houk said he noticed the property was not properly secured as of yet. Toye said the City would look at that issue and have it boarded up, but the issue was how to do that in a way to avoid trapping birds inside and killing them.
Toye told reporters that administration has been looking at possible ways to remove the pigeons from the 11th Avenue property, including possibly smoke-bombing the building to chase the pigeons out of there before boarding it up. The idea is to evict the pigeons as humanely as possible. But Toye noted the pigeons would likely set up somewhere else to roost.
Another notorious pigeon location is the former Dr. Wolf and Gormley building on 100th Street. The building had been vacant and boarded up, making it a prime attraction for pigeons. However, that situation is not likely to last much longer.
A purchase agreement was completed in December between the City and developers Riley and Ryan Shepherd, who have pledged to renovate the building and open it up for new business tenants.
That deal was approved during the council meeting Dec. 13. Mayor Ian Hamilton expressed hope the deal would resolve the pigeon issue at that location.
Also contemplated at the meeting were efforts to get the word out to residents about what to do to discourage pigeons, with administration pledging to look into it.
