Local Law 15 requires new buildings and major retrofits in New York City to use bird-friendly materials, such as the Feather Friendly® tape recently installed by 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Katherine Chen
In December 2019, NYC Bird Alliance achieved a major victory for the City's birds with the passage of the bird-friendly materials bill (Initiative 1482-2019). Enacted as Local Law 15 in 2020, this measure is the most comprehensive bird-friendly building legislation in the U.S., requiring that all new construction and significant renovations built in New York City beginning in January 2021 use bird-friendly materials.
Why is the bird-friendly materials bill an important measure to help protect birds?
Up to one billion birds die from collisions with buildings each year. In New York City alone, we estimate up to a quarter million birds perish each year after colliding with buildings in the City.
The biggest reason why birds collide with buildings? The glass used by buildings. Birds crash into glass because they can't see it as a barrier and don't understand reflections. When they see habitat or sky either reflected in glass, or through it, such as in a courtyard, the birds collide at full speed. Many die on impact.
This is a big problem in cities like New York with lots of buildings and glass, contributing to the decline in bird populations we are seeing across North America. Glass is the second-largest direct cause of bird mortality in the U.S. (second only to free-roaming domestic cats).
Local Law 15 will help reduce the hundreds of thousands of collisions that occur in NYC each year, and we hope the law serves as an inspiration to building owners to take simple actions to make their already-constructed buildings safe for birds.
How was the bird-friendly materials bill able to pass in the New York City Council?
NYC Bird Alliance advocated for passage of the bill, originally introduced by Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Member Rafael Espinal, with a collaborative working group composed of members of the Bird-Safe Buildings Alliance (including representatives from NYC Bird Alliance, American Bird Conservancy, and the architectural firms FXCollaborative and Ennead, as well as Alan Steel from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, American Institute of Architects New York, and volunteer lawyers and policy advocates).
We worked with the City Council and the Mayor’s Office, and took into account the practical concerns of industry stakeholders such as the Real Estate Board of New York, to strengthen the bill through amendments that made it effective in saving birds, reasonable for building owners, and enforceable.
What Does Local Law 15 Require?
Bird-friendly materials (not just glass) must be installed uniformly on 90 percent of facades up to 75 feet, and up to 12 feet above green roofs, for any new building or any major alteration replacing a building's glass panels and elements being built after January 2021.
Bird-friendly materials must be installed at all glass railings and other hazardous elements, regardless of how high they are located on a building’s exterior, for any new building or any major alteration replacing a building's glass panels and elements being built after January 2021.
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