On Monday October 26, the City Council of Redwood City will vote on objective design standards for residential and mixed-used projects in the city. Bird-friendly design standards are included in this update, and provide guidelines that aim to minimize and prevent bird collisions with windows and other structures. Please use the form below to urge the City Council to adopt the objective design standards with the bird-friendly regulations, and protect our region’s birds!
What’s Happening
The city of Redwood City has drafted Objective Design Standards for residential and mixed-use projects, and these new standards include bird-friendly building requirements for all projects located on the bay side of U.S. Highway 101. These requirements would ensure that buildings and other infrastructure incorporate bird-friendly glass and other features that would help minimize the risk of bird collisions.
Redwood City would not be the first city to integrate bird-friendly design into their city ordinances. Across the region, several cities have already adopted bird-friendly design policies, demonstrating that communities can successfully balance the need for new development with protecting our region’s bird populations. Green Foothills recently worked to get similar guidelines in unincorporated areas of San Mateo County, and we are now urging Redwood City to follow these trends and vote to adopt the standards at their City Council meeting on October 26.
Why It Matters
Bird populations across North America have declined significantly since the 1970s, with overall numbers falling by nearly 30 percent, or approximately 3 billion birds.
The Bay Area sits along the Pacific Flyway, a major migratory route used by millions of birds each year as they seek out feeding areas, warmer temperatures and breeding habitats. The region’s shorelines provide important resting and overwintering habitat for an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 birds. However, research has found significant declines among bird species that depend on this flyway and the Bay Area’s ecosystems, with some shorebird populations experiencing decreases of up to 87 percent. These losses highlight the need for conservation measures that protect bird habitats and encourage population recovery.
Collisions with glass are a significant threat to bird populations, making bird-friendly building standards an important tool for reducing human-caused bird mortality. Hundreds of millions of birds are estimated to die from glass collisions each year across North America, with the American Bird Conservancy estimating the annual number to be more than one billion. These collisions often occur when transparent or reflective glass mirrors the sky, trees or surrounding vegetation, causing birds to mistake reflections as areas that they can fly through. Even low-lying features such as glass railings, transparent corners and fly-through designs can also pose significant risks.
Because these hazards can occur anywhere birds and infrastructure coexist, it’s important to incorporate bird-friendly design techniques into our buildings to help reduce collisions and make our communities safer for birds.
What You Can Do
Please use the form below to email the City Council by October 26 and tell them to adopt the Objective Design Standards with bird-friendly design.
