OCEAN CITY – Ocean City will spend more than $300,000 this year to fend off pesky gulls, expanding the use of birds of prey from the beach and boardwalk to other areas of the resort.
Although the Jan. 26 City Council vote was overwhelmingly in favor of increasing the contract with East Coast Falcons from roughly a quarter million dollars last year to $316,920 in 2023, it came only after lengthy discussion. Council members and the public weighed in on the expense, adding more coverage to the business districts on the island, starting the program earlier in the morning to protect people eating breakfast outdoors and the potential impact on other bird populations.
The contract, which will run from April 7 through Oct. 22, and has renewal options for two more years with increases linked to the Consumer Price Index, was on the consent agenda for vote with a slew of other resolutions, but was pulled out for separate vote by request from Councilman Bobby Barr, who asked the measure be tabled until council could review it in context with the new year’s budget. He also said it should be rebid under the original specifications with escalators for expanded services.
Barr would be the only council member to vote against the contract, saying that while he supported the program, council’s prime responsibility is looking after the taxpayers in the resort.
A memo accompanying the resolution from Director of Community Services Daniel Kelchner outlined “new aspects of the 2023-2025 contract.” They included beginning in early April and running through late October, starting at 8 a.m. to keep the gulls away from breakfast diners, more services in the downtown, 34th Street and other interior business districts and public spaces, and weekly educational opportunities for residents and visitors to learn about the company and science behind falconry-based bird abatement.
Public comment was mixed.
Resident Bill Hartranft questioned spending roughly a million dollars over three years. Sheila Hartranft argued the gulls predated people on the island. “Gulls were here long before we were. It is their home. We infringed on it,” she said, arguing the people should be adapting to them and teaching people how to protect their food from gulls.
Dave Hayes said the contract itself should be renamed because it only refers to boardwalk and beach. That is where the problem with gulls swooping down on people to snatch food out of their hands or off of their plates has historically been the concern. He said since it is being expanded in part to protect diners, that restaurants should help foot the bill.
Donna Moore, referencing academic studies about the decline in bird populations, said Ocean City is in the Atlantic flyway bird migratory route and the impact of having predatory birds flying overhead to scare off the gulls also impacts other shore birds such as black skimmers, terns, sandpipers and the native osprey. “Everything is interrupted when you introduce a foreign set of raptors,” Moore said.
Business representatives argued in favor of the program, including Danielle Guerriero, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, who read a letter from the owners of Hooked On Breakfast at 916 Asbury Ave. commending council for adding the downtown to the program last year and how it immediately ended the problem of gulls assailing outdoor diners. The gulls “were out of control before falcons arrived.”
Wes Kazmarck, president of the Boardwalk Merchants Association, said he was skeptical at first when the program was introduced, but said one thing merchants were unanimous about was that they all support the program as a public safety measure and are impressed with how effective it has been. Kazmarck said the downtown should be included in the program.
Mayor Jay Gillian said it is impossible to tell people how to behave and the use of raptors is a program that works to keep people safe by scaring off the gulls. He said East Coast Falcons’ owner is an environmentalists and that the raptors are actually forcing the gulls away form stealing pizza and French fries and back to the ocean where they have historically fed.
Council Vice President Karen Bergman agreed with the mayor, calling herself an “extreme supporter” of the program, which is about public safety because of the aggressive gulls. “We need to put our dollars into public safety first,” she said, calling that the city’s prime responsibility.
Councilman John “Tony” Policini, who worked for years as a boardwalk businessman, said he saw seagulls attacking babies during the annual Baby Parade and that it not only is for public safety, but to support the businesses, which were often forced to replace customers’ food snatched by gulls. He said COVID changed behavior and people want to dine outside more.
Councilman Terry Crowley Jr. said Ocean City’s business is tourism and making the experience better for tourists is part of the city’s mission.
Colleague Jody Levchuk, a boardwalk businessman, fully supported the program, saying it was more humane to get gulls eating in their natural environment than stealing food from the boardwalk. He said his concern was that council members did not get enough information on the program earlier. He asked for the administration to help educate council members before the items came up for a vote.
Councilman Tom Rotondi said the gull abatement program is “amazing” and that once when his young son dropped a container of popcorn he grabbed him, fearing an onslaught of gulls that didn’t come because of the raptors. He was concerned more about expanding the program into the business districts and the added expense that was coming with it.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said East Coast Falcons has a permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and a special purpose permit for the abatement program from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service. He said there is no evidence the program is affecting the natural habitat of other bird species and it is actually intended to stop the unnatural behavior of gulls preying on humans and their food.
He said it was important to approve the contract quickly because East Coast Falcons needs time to gear up with its human and avian workforce and make arrangements for lodging. Savastano added the cost has been factored into the budget, that he is available to council members whenever they have questions and that there is a council agenda meeting every two weeks where they can learn more. He noted it is fully appropriate for council members to decide on costs of programs such as this.
Council voted 6-1 in favor of the contract.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff