After several weeks of citizen complaints about late-night booms, Lancaster city officials Thursday restricted the hours that Park City Center can set off its propane cannons that ward off crows.

The wee-hours detonations, which reverberated across the suburbs up to several miles away, were blamed on problems with timing devices on new cannons.

Mall officials apologized and said they would comply with the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. time frame for firing the rooftop cannons.

The permits for the cannons previously had no time restrictions.

"If you live within earshot of these cannons, you'd know how disruptive to one's sleep they can be," said one exasperated East Hempfield Township resident who lives just outside East Petersburg, two and a half miles from Park City.

The cannons fired until 1:30 a.m. Christmas night, he said.

City police said they responded to two reports of shots fired at Park City in the last week; both turned out to be the booms of the rooftop cannons.

Woodcrest Villa officials have received "tons of calls" from angry residents who accused the retirement community of making the noise, according to Nan Rush, vice president. Officials, on an internal television network, broadcast Park City's apology and promised to resolve the problem, Rush said.

The episode is the latest chapter in Lancaster's annual winter joust with migrating crows, which flock to Lancaster city and the suburbs each Thanksgiving in numbers estimated at 10,000 to 15,000.

For the last five years, Lancaster Crow Coalition has successfully used pyrotechnics and crow effigies to shoo the birds from unwanted spots to roost in trees in acceptable areas.

After several years of not needing to fire the cannons, Park City hauled out new cannons this year after officials said the birds had begun roosting and damaging the roof of the Sears store.

"They're really pecking it apart," Charlotte Katzenmoyer, the city's public works director, said.

Laurie Fuller, a city woman who founded Lancaster Crow Coalition to use nonlethal means to keep the crows from being a nuisance, said most of the crows have been roosting out of harm's way in trees between Park City Plaza and Woodcrest Villa.

Harris TV & Appliance, 820 Plaza Blvd., reported some droppings on trucks. But placement of a fake dead crow quickly took care of the problem, Fuller said.

She said crows fly to roost around dusk and then mostly stay put. She said using cannons after dark, such as Park City has, is not necessary.

She said she got a text message from an eyewitness stating that when Park City first began setting off its cannons before Christmas, people in the mall's parking lot were so startled that they ducked.

She said the coalition has received daily complaints from people as far away from Park City as neighborhoods along Fruitville and Manheim pikes, who assume it is the coalition making the noise.

"They email us and say, 'Please stop.' A couple people were very upset and hadn't gotten sleep in a long time, especially older couples," she said. "They told us they were still going off at 4 and 5 a.m."

Manheim Township police Sgt. Tom Rudzinski said police received several complaints from residents wanting to know "why there is noise in the middle of the night."

Park City spokeswoman Jillian Fikkert said Thursday of the misfiring cannons, "We understand it has been an inconvenience. We were having an equipment issue. We apologize for any inconvenience to our surrounding neighbors."

Mayor Rick Gray said, "Hopefully the matter is resolved. We want to be good neighbors."

Gray and Katzenmoyer urged Park City officials to work with Lancaster Crow Coalition to explore quieter ways of convincing the crows to move on, such as erecting effigies of dead crows.

acrable@lnpnews.com