Some buildings fronting Thames St have a visible coating of seagull feathers, nests and excrement — some of which is very pungent.
A member of the public approached the Oamaru Mail raising the issue — which is particularly noticeable at the corner of Thames St and Coquet St.
The Oamaru Hospice Shop has temporarily leased space there while its permanent building in the north end is renovated.
Shop manager Carmel Newall has put up a sign apologising for the smell.
"A couple of customers have mentioned it but because we’re in here all day, we notice the smell wafting through the shop and I didn’t want anyone to think the smell was in the shop.
"We’ve got an upstairs staff room and the whole upstairs just smells like the sea so it’s not very pleasant to sit up there and have a coffee.
"We’re looking forward to getting back to our other shop because there’s no seagulls out that end of town."
Gulls had been swooping at people entering or leaving their shop and staff have even had to rescue some chicks that had been pushed off the roof, she said.
"As much as they annoy me, I’ve actually been out there saving babies as they fall off the roof.
"What we can do about [the gulls], I don’t know."
The Waitaki District Council cleans and maintains the buildings it owns and discourages gulls from nesting on them.
It is up to building owners to clean their properties, council infrastructure manager Joshua Rendell said.
"The general expectation is that building owners keep their frontages, including the footpaths in front of their businesses, clean and tidy in between the cleans that we undertake."
A council contractor cleans the public footpaths monthly, although the regime did not specifically target the seagull excrement.
Mr Rendell said they had run a trial to attempt to remove all seagull excrement and waste from the footpaths.
It involved a fortnightly clean, costing $205.56 just for the footpath and ramp outside the council building.
"This was considered costly and unsustainable to be applied to all the affected areas in the CBD. Ratepayers would have to wear the cost."
Mr Rendell acknowledged the building owners who had taken action to deter gulls and keep their buildings "looking smart".
"Last year saw a record low number of nesting gulls, thanks to hard work by building owners.
"However, this is not a one-and-done situation — discouraging seagulls is essential to ensuring they find a much more natural home on Cape Wanbrow."
