Noise levels would determine whether a bird owner in a residential zone should be penalized for creating a public nuisance under a new proposal being offered by City Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga.
The proposed change to Bill 51 does not limit the number of birds that would be allowed in each household, nor would it require aviary enclosures to be a certain distance from a neighbor’s property, two provisions opposed by bird enthusiasts.
Fukunaga said the proposal cuts to the heart of the matter by simply adding loud birdcalls to the list of things defined as public nuisances rather than creating a new animal nuisance law, as proposed in the original bill.
Fukunaga first introduced the bill to regulate birds in residential areas in response to constituents in Kamehameha Heights and other neighborhoods.
The plan will be heard at 9 a.m. Tuesday by the Council’s Public Health, Safety and Welfare Committee.
The new draft says a residential property owner would be found in violation of the city public nuisance law and Housing Code for “an accumulation of birds producing loud calls that exceed 45 decibels during nighttime hours or 55 decibels during daytime hours.”
City attorneys would be able to seek a court injunction against the landowner when more than 25 public nuisance complaints are received by the city within a one-year period, the new draft says.
Penalties for violating the Housing Code vary but include a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a year in jail. But Fukunaga said she envisions the city would issue notices requiring a bird owner to comply and then levy more severe penalties if the violation persists.
Curtis Lum, a spokesman for the Department of Planning and Permitting, said the agency is complaint-driven. An inspector typically investigates complaints, and a Notice of Violation is issued if warranted.
A property owner is given a deadline to correct the violation, Lum said.
Typically, if the violation isn’t corrected, a fine is issued as part of a Notice of Order, he said. If the violation is still not corrected, the department assesses daily fines, he said.
Melissa Bayles, co-founder of the Hawaiian Feathered Friends Network, said the idea of imposing a restriction of 55 decibels for daytime hours and 45 decibels at night is “completely unreasonable.”
She pointed to two websites that measured normal conversation levels at 60 decibels.
Fukunaga said the decibel thresholds come from the state Department of Health noise codes, which the state has not been enforcing.
Bayles said she also objects to using 25 complaints a year as a threshold because there’s no way specified to substantiate the complaints.
