A Boca Raton ordinance prohibiting residents from feeding iguanas, rats, mice and pigeons has met its demise less than two months after being enacted.
The City Council on Oct. 13 repealed the law that had been requested by Mayor Andy Thomson, which imposed a $100 fine on violators.
Council members Stacy Sipple and Yvette Drucker and Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau called for it to be stricken.
The ordinance, they said, resulted from a long-running dispute between neighbors rather than a request from residents.
Drucker called it an “embarrassment” and said it was unenforceable.
“We have been on every national news over this ordinance,” she said.
Sipple, who voted in favor of it on Aug. 25, changed her mind after getting more information after that meeting.
“An ordinance should protect the public, not provide another weapon for harassment, retaliation, intimidation or invasion of privacy,” she said.
City resources “should never be manipulated to carry out personal vendettas or target residents,” she added.
Grau thanked Sipple for taking the lead on asking for repeal. She described the ordinance as an “example of over-legislation” and said the council should not turn a neighborhood dispute into a law.
Thomson attempted to salvage the ordinance by suggesting removing pigeons from the no-feed list. He got no takers.
The final vote was 4-1 for repeal, with Thomson dissenting.
— Mary Hladky
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