Remedy for Pesky Sea Gulls Ruffles Feathers on Council : Environment: Developer defends his use of a web made out of fishing line to discourage hordes of birds from using lake.

What do you do when a flock of birds is “do-do-ing” it in your gleaming new lake?

And on your manicured landscaping? And, especially, on prospective tenants who stray under their flight path at, shall we say, an inopportune moment?

If you’re Water Gardens developer Jerry Snyder, with the largest commercial development on the Westside at stake, you call in a flock of experts and quickly heed their advice. Put a web of nearly invisible monofilament fishing line high overhead, the bird sages advised.

The invisible high-wire solution is right there in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife pamphlet and used by wildlife managers, Snyder said. The lines, spaced four or more feet apart, are listed as an apparently tried-and-true way to dissuade hordes of pesky sea gulls from taking to your lake like, well, ducks to water.

In Santa Monica, though, tampering with nature is also a way to run afoul of the environmental police. Spotting the monofilament on a stroll through the 17-acre site at 26th Street and Colorado Boulevard, Santa Monica City Councilman Kelly Olsen was galvanized into action. Weren’t the lines a death trap for migratory birds, even endangered species? Olsen wondered.

After consulting with federal wildlife experts, he told the City Council this week: “It’s not a matter of if a bird is going to be injured, it’s when. “

Snyder insists his solution is both environmentally correct and, even better, it has worked without ruffling any feathers, at least not on the birds. “I don’t have a bird problem,” Snyder quipped. “I have a councilman problem.”

At Olsen’s request, the City Council voted unanimously to ask for a legal opinion on the matter. City Atty. Robert M. Myers was already on the case, having assigned it to an attorney in his office who specializes in fish and wildlife law.

Myers said no conclusions have been reached on the legality of the monofilament lines, which apparently repel the sea gulls by sound vibrations or some sort of ornithological radar.

“This is an important issue, and that’s why we’re looking into it,” Myers said.

One reason for his concern: Snyder is not the only one in Santa Monica at war with the peripatetic gulls.

The city has similar lines above its trash yards to keep the birds out of the garbage. And at the tower used to train firefighters, the city has upped the ante with a bit of shock therapy.

Firefighters have been beset by the birds’ droppings for years. The city has tried everything to disinvite them to the training tower--even using fake owls with moving eyes. The owls worked for two days, and on the third, the gulls were perching on the owls’ heads, recounted City Manager John Jalili.

Now the city uses a mild electrical current to repel the gulls. If this remedy----or the monofilament lines--are found to be illegal, both the city and the developer might be cited for cruelty to sea gulls.

“This wasn’t just a councilman’s flight of fancy,” Olsen said.