For three years, a Chandler resident kept showing up at City Council meetings with the same complaint: a neighbor was feeding large flocks of pigeons, and the droppings were taking over the neighborhood. The council could not help.
"We've had a gentleman that has come to a few council meetings," Mayor Kevin Hartke said at an April 9 work session. "It was my understanding that we've said we can't do anything because we don't have a code to cover that."
He was right. Chandler's current code addresses infestations and general nuisances, but does not directly cover bird feeding. That is a higher bar to prove. As a result, neighbors with a bird-feeding problem have had no clear way to get the city involved.
That is changing. The City Council on May 21 tentatively approved Ordinance No. 5154, which adds a new section to the city code specifically addressing the keeping or feeding of non-domesticated birds.
58 complaints in three years
Riann Balch, the city's neighborhood services director, told the council that Chandler has received 58 complaints about wild birds creating problems in neighborhoods over the past three years. Other nearby cities already have specific codes addressing bird feeding, she said, but Chandler's code had a gap.
The new ordinance targets situations where feeding birds results in "repeated or excessive accumulation of droppings" on neighboring properties. It is not a ban on bird feeding — it only applies when the feeding creates a problem for others.
The council considered limiting the ordinance to pigeons, which are the source of most complaints. It rejected that approach, instead choosing to cover all non-domesticated birds.
Education first, fines as a last resort
Balch told the council that the city's primary goal would be education and voluntary compliance. When a violation occurs, staff would inform the resident what the rules are and ask them to stop. Only after repeated warnings would the city consider fines or other enforcement actions.
The ordinance received initial approval on May 21. A final vote at a later meeting will put it into effect. For Chandler residents who have been dealing with problem bird feeding with no clear way to resolve it, the new rules provide a path forward.