Pacific Grove may soon declare war on gulls, again.

On a recent afternoon, a small slice of sunlight parts a gloomy sky and lands on Pacific Grove’s downtown district. On this murky day, the horizon is seagull-free, making it a good day for those in the city trying to get rid of the airborne nuisance.

City Manager Ben Harvey, clad in a baby blue sweater over a white button-up shirt, strolls down 16th Street with a cup of coffee in hand. It’s early afternoon, and while there are still no gulls around, Harvey stops between Fandango Restaurant and Grove Market, and turns to face a dumpster area.

“This is what I am talking about,” Harvey says, visibly annoyed, yet composed.

Harvey takes a few steps toward a nearly empty parking lot in front of the restaurant, and points to a big, black dumpster with its lid shut. The container stands next to a small trash can filled with a tied-up garbage bag.

“The restaurant is closed, but this is where the seagulls come and feast,” he says. “This is part of the problem.”

Harvey mentions it would be ideal to have the trash area inside a room that resembles a garage, which would lock the trash up and impede the squawking gulls from coming in.

Harvey lives next door to Fandango. At night, he says, it is impossible to sleep with the windows open because the sound of screaming seagulls, chowing down on garbage, is so loud. “It feels like they are in bed with me,” he adds.

While Harvey is not a fan of seagulls mating and flocking in America’s Last Hometown, Mark Brodeur, P.G.’s Community and Economic Development Department director, is the one spearheading a push to do something about the winged nuisance. This would be the second time in two years the city would pursue a plan to create a hostile environment for gulls.

Brodeur says he is trying to revisit the gull abatement program that was first launched in 2015. The program was short-lived, and deployed drones and raptors in the city’s downtown to make it an unfriendly environment for seagulls to nest. The program’s goal was to reduce the seagull population. Brodeur says it did. But without continuance of the program, the effort is futile.

To understand the city’s war on gulls, it is important to understand what city officials and residents cherish most: quality of life.

Yet in 2015, there was some public pushback on the program. Harvey says it was the city’s idea to pursue it, and that residents didn’t support it at first. Despite complaints, in 2015, the city agreed to hire a falconer for $25,000, and for three weeks, from sunrise to sunset, the falconer walked the streets to scare off gulls trying to nest. Three raptors – a falcon, an owl and a hawk – were rotated on five-hour shifts during seagulls’ mating and nesting period, Brodeur says.

Because seagulls, as a migratory species, are protected under federal law, the city is not allowed to disturb the birds once they have settled into their nests and laid eggs. This is also why there is a specific time frame for the city to act at a certain time of the year, so as to deter the gulls from making their nests in downtown. And that time is nearing.

In 2017, the city wants to discuss bringing back the program – but this time with a long-term approach.

“Some cities employ full-time raptors year-round,” Brodeur says. “I don’t think that is necessary in Pacific Grove. The important period is their mating and nesting period.”

Brodeur says the gulls need to see raptors year after year before they change their nesting and mating habits.

If the program is approved, the city may have to amend its budget, Harvey says, because there is no funding currently allocated to shoo away birds. The subject has yet to come before City Council, but Harvey says it could be considered as early as January; seagulls usually nest from July to August.

In addition to using predatory birds to scare off gulls, part of the program would also include stepping up enforcement of dumpster lid closures (to avoid seagull-garbage feasts) and asking property owners to remove nests from their rooftops. Harvey says flat rooftops are a common place for seagulls to nest. In 2015, Brodeur says, most property owners were compliant.

“We did not have to resort to many citations for non-compliance,” he says. “Most everyone pitched in.”

Back at the Fandango Restaurant’s parking lot, the dumpster and garbage bags appear to be in compliance with the city code: The dumpster lid is shut, and the garbage bags are tied and not exposing any food waste. Still, Harvey’s displeasure is evident.

“It’s not that they have caused damage,” Harvey says. “They’re just very annoying.”