The City Council introduced an ordinance Monday night that would prohibit the intentional feeding of crows and ravens within city limits.

The city was prompted to draft the ordinance because of a Simi resident who has been regularly feeding crows from his backyard in the Texas tract despite complaints from neighbors.

According to city staff, the problem has been going on for years.

"We have one person who will not stop doing this," Mayor Paul Miller said. "Unfortunately, because of one person we have to pass an ordinance."

It is currently lawful to feed birds from private property, and the person who is feeding the crows is aware of this, a staff report said.

Simi Police Capt. Roy Jones said at Monday's meeting that since September 2004 numerous complaints have come from citizens in the neighborhood about large birds, mainly crows, flocking in the area.

The particular resident's activity is more than a neighborhood nuisance, Jones said—it also poses noise and health problems. Crows have been identified as being associated with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, and they bring more vermin to the areas they inhabit, he said.

Because they are scavengers, crows and ravens will eat almost anything. Jones said Simi police were able to step in and stop the resident's activity when he was throwing food and trash into the street, which is public property. But since then, he has used his backyard as a feeding ground.

Simi resident Hal Renniger, who lives in the neighborhood, said his neighbor has been feeding the birds hot dogs, chicken, bread, peanuts, garbage, bones and other "things that normal birds won't eat."

"The crows are sloppy," he said. "They drop food all over. It's a nuisance."

Renniger added that the large, acidic crow droppings stain concrete, ruin the paint on cars and are annoying to clean up. Also, one of his dogs has become allergic to the peanuts the crows drop, causing the dog to lose its fur, resulting in related vet bills for Renniger.

Altogether, 30 to 45 residents have been negatively affected by the actions of one uncooperative neighbor, Renniger said.

While the city always seeks compliance first, City Attorney David Hirsch said that because the problem has been going on for a long while, his office can "up the ante" and file misdemeanor charges if someone refuses to comply with the new ordinance.

Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Foster suggested that the city adopt the bird feeding ban as an "urgency ordinance" Monday night so that it would take affect 30 days sooner than normal. However, the city attorney did not have conclusive findings showing the feeding of the crows is negatively impacting the health, safety or welfare of the community.

The council therefore asked the city attorney's office to come back to the next meeting Oct. 13 with findings backing an urgency ordinance. If no findings can be made, the ordinance will have a second reading and the council will take a vote.

Councilmember Barbra Williamson, who brought the matter to the council's attention during its Aug. 11 meeting, said she didn't relish the idea of having to pass an ordinance because of one resident.

However, she acknowledged that sometimes the only recourse for fed-up neighbors is to ask the city to step in and put a new law on the books.

"This council doesn't like to pass laws or make laws just for the whim of it," Williamson said. "People seem to think that what they do to their neighbors doesn't matter."