Some businesses in the Ashburton CBD continue to experience problems with pigeons. Photo: LDR/Jonathan Leask
Pigeons are not welcome at Te Whare Whakatere in Ashburton.
The district council plans to spend $20,000 on a Flock-Off bird deterrent system to rid the new $62.1m library and civic centre of its bothersome birds.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said the cost of the technology will be offset by a reduction in cleaning costs.
"The cost of cleaning is in the region of $15,000 per annum, so the $20,000 investment for the Flock-Off system has a strong payback within 18 months," Riach said.
"We also foresee an escalation in the cleaning costs as the pigeons become more established, so the payback is likely even better."
He said the intention is to install it at Te Whare Whakatere first and if it proves successful it will then be installed at the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum as well.
"We investigated several other options such as shooting, netting, bird repellent, and spikes which were discounted for various reasons including aesthetics or practical suitability for the building."
Pigeons are an around $15,000 clean up cost and climbing at Te Whare Whakatere. Photo: LDR/Jonathan Leask
The "discreet looking solution" generates a series of electromagnetic pulses that birds perceive as an area to avoid he said.
"The signal creates an invisible barrier which deters birds without harming them.
"It operates at a voltage like household appliances and poses no danger to the public, pets, and the birds themselves."
The council is still working through the details of where the technology will be installed he said.
It is also awaiting the official sign off in the annual plan process.
Pigeons were not declared pests in the Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan 2018 - 2038, which means there is no statutory responsibilities for anyone to control pigeons.
But the cost of cleaning up after them has long been an issue for buildings in Ashburton's CBD.
A block over from Te Whare Whakatere, the Ashburton Event Centre - a council funded agency -continues to battle the pigeons roosting in the comfort of the heating system on the roof.
Ashburton Trust Event Centre general manager, Roger Farr recently provided a six-month update to the council, including the ongoing pigeon problems.
"They are not as bad as they used to be on our building," he said.
"It does cost a considerable amount of money each year.
"We are spending anything up to $15,000 at the moment maintaining pigeons and cleaning the roof."
He said they have a contractor in twice a year to clean the roof and it just "has got to be done".
He told the councillors after a recent heavy rain "there was a smell coming through the air conditioning".
"If its not cleaned it permeates through the whole building," Farr said.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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