SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
A-878-94T1
JOAN GUIDI,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CITY OF ATLANTIC CITY,
Defendant-Respondent.
_________________________________________________________________
Submitted: October 17, 1995 - Decided: January 3, 1996
Before Judges A.M. Stein, Kestin and Cuff.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Law Division, Atlantic County.
Alan M. Lands, attorney for appellant
(Mr. Lands on the letter brief).
Daniel A. Corey, City Solicitor, attorney
for respondent (Mr. Corey and John M.
Eccles, Jr., on the letter brief).
The opinion of the court was delivered by
A.M. STEIN, J.A.D.
Plaintiff was issued a summons charging that on February 3,
1994 she violated Atlantic City Code 190-1 by: "Feeding of birds
resulting in heavy accumulations of bird feces on building roof
tops and vehicles on residential street interfering with comfort
and general well-being of residents."
She then brought this action against the City challenging
the constitutionality of Sections 2.1(a) and 2.1(b) of Ordinance
190-1, which provides:
The following matters, things, conditions or acts and
each of them are hereby declared to be a nuisance and
injurious to the health of the inhabitants of this
municipality:
(a) Any matter, thing, condition or act which is or
may become detrimental or a menace to the health
of the inhabitants of this municipality.
(b) Any matter, thing, condition or act which is or
may become an annoyance, or interfere with the
comfort or general well-being of the inhabitants
of this municipality.
Both parties cross-moved for summary judgment. In the
motion below, and in this appeal, plaintiff has challenged only
the constitutionality of Section 2.1(b). We therefore deem her
attack upon the constitutionality of Section 2.1(a) to be abandoned.
The motion judge granted summary judgment for the City,
holding that the ordinance is not unconstitutionally vague.
Plaintiff has since been found not guilty of the charge lodged
against her in the municipal court. She continues this appeal
because she still feeds the pigeons.
The ordinance is vague and overbroad. It is vague because
it does not "give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act
accordingly." State v. Cameron,
100 N.J. 586, 591 (1985) (quoting Grayned v. City of Rockford,
408 U.S. 104, 108,
92 S. Ct. 2294, 2298-99,
33 L. Ed.2d 222, 227 (1972)).
The language in Section 2.1(b) prohibiting "[a]ny matter,
thing, condition or act which is or may become an annoyance, or
interfere with the comfort or general well-being of the inhabitants of this municipality" subjects a defendant to an unascertainable standard. Coates v. Cincinnati,
402 U.S. 611, 614,
91 S. Ct. 1686, 1688,
29 L. Ed.2d 214, 217 (1971). "Vague laws may
trap the innocent by not providing fair warning." State v.
Cameron, supra, 100 N.J. at 591 (quoting Grayned v. City of
Rockford, supra, 408 U.S. at 108, 92 S. Ct. at 2299, 33 L. Ed.
2d
at 227. This ordinance leaves the citizen at the mercy of its
enforcers. "A violation of an ordinance should not depend upon
which enforcement officer, or for that matter which judge,"
happens to be considering the actor's conduct. State v.
Piemontese,
282 N.J. Super. 307, 309 (App. Div. 1995).
The ordinance is overbroad because it does not permit the
enforcement officer acting in good faith to be able to point to
objective facts that would lead a reasonable person to realize
that his or her conduct was a violation of the ordinance. State
v. Lashinsky,
81 N.J. Super. 1, 17 (1979).
Defendant argues it would be impossible to draft an ordinance addressing all potential types of conduct posing a health
hazard. While this is generally true, the United States Supreme
Court has held that a municipality must prohibit acts within its
police power "through the enactment and enforcement of ordinances
directed with reasonable specificity toward the conduct to be
prohibited." Coates v. Cincinnati, supra, 402 U.S. at 614, 91 S.
Ct. at 1688, 29 L. Ed. at 217.
Pigeons are a common enough problem for a municipality to
address. Other jurisdictions have enacted ordinances prohibiting
the keeping or breeding of pigeons. See, e.g., City of Des
Plains v, Gacs.,
382 N.E.2d 402, 403 (Ill. App. 1978); New York
v. Benincasa,
313 N.Y.S.2d 211, 212 (N.Y. Cty. Ct. 1970); see
also Hayward v. Samuel,
47 A.2d 251 (Pa. 1946) (Philadelphia
Board of Health found that influx of pigeons constituted public
nuisance). The feeding of pigeons and other birds in a seaside
community is a common enough problem that this conduct, if
undesirable, should be specifically prohibited by ordinance.
Reversed and remanded for an order entering summary judgment
in favor of plaintiff.