San Francisco OKs 'bird-safe' building standard

[Donna]

San Francisco is for the birds — at least its new buildings will be.

An ordinance approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors requires that new buildings in parts of the city use "bird-safe" standards that reduce the risk of winged creatures hitting panes of glass.

Advocates say that hundreds of millions of birds die each year after flying into glass windows or walls in the USA, and that San Francisco's action will boost efforts to encourage bird-safe buildings nationally.

"It's a global problem," says Christine Sheppard, bird collisions campaign manager for the American Bird Conservancy. "Everywhere you find glass, you will find dead birds. One of the reasons that people don't recognize it is a problem is that it is so widely distributed. There are some buildings that kill thousands of birds a year."

Transparent and reflective glass both pose a threat to migratory and local birds, Sheppard says. Birds don't see glass or recognize it as a barrier and think they are flying to vegetation they see through the window or in a reflection, she says.

Marking windows with dots or other designs, or shielding the glass with screens or other architectural devices, can reduce fatal accidents, Sheppard says.

Margie O'Driscoll, executive director of the American Institute of Architects' San Francisco chapter, says her group supports the idea of protecting birds but believes the ordinance "doesn't seem like the best way to go about it." She says the action was taken without a study of bird deaths due to buildings in San Francisco. "I walk to work every day down Market Street," O'Driscoll says. "I've never seen a dead bird."

She says glass with partially opaque material inside can double the cost and create "murky" viewing, and may reduce energy efficiency.

"For people who want a great view and pay a premium for a great view, there's going to be some serious frustration," O'Driscoll says.

AnMarie Rodgers, manager of legislative affairs in the San Francisco Planning Department, and Erika Lovejoy, senior environmental planner in the department, reviewed 30 years of research and local experience with birds in drafting the proposal.

Rodgers says the California Academy of Sciences building inside Golden Gate Park, built with expansive glass panes, has been retrofitted with screens during parts of the year to deter bird accidents.

Rodgers says they did not believe the ordinance would increase building costs. It will apply to new construction in certain areas considered near bird habitats, including within 300 feet of a 2-acre or larger green space or open water.

USA Today