What's happening
This bill requires new construction and substantial renovations in New York City to implement bird collision deterrent safety measures.
Why it matters
Mandates adoption of science-backed standards. The bill requires the city to base its bird collision deterrence rules on established best practices, including guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the LEED green building rating system, ensuring measures are effective and up-to-date.
Broad applicability to major projects. Both new construction and substantial renovations (impacting at least 50% of a building’s floor area or windows) must comply, so the law will affect a significant portion of future building activity in NYC.
Direct link to building approvals. Certificates of occupancy cannot be issued for non-compliant projects, giving the regulation strong enforcement power and making bird-friendly design a fundamental part of the construction approval process.
Ongoing improvement required. The commissioner must review and update deterrence standards at least every five years, ensuring the regulations keep pace with advances in building materials, design techniques, and bird conservation research.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Bird-Safe Construction Sites
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
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History
- Referred to cities
- Referred to cities
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
705
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. GLICK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to deterring bird collisions on construction sites
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 27-645.1 to read as follows:
§ 27-645.1 Bird collision deterrence. (a) As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) "construction work" shall mean any or all work or operations necessary or incidental to the erection, demolition, assembling, installing, or equipping of buildings, or any alterations and operations incidental thereto;
(2) "substantial reconstruction work" shall mean any work in which the construction work affects at least fifty percent of the building's floor area. Such term shall also mean any work in which the construction work results in glazing at least fifty percent of the building's windows; and
(3) "bird collision deterrent safety measures" shall mean any measures, including, but not limited to, bird friendly building glass or other building construction and design techniques incorporating birdsafe building materials and design features identified in the rules and regulations required to be adopted pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section.
(b) The commissioner shall, no later than January first, two thousand twenty-one, adopt rules and regulations establishing what constitutes bird collision deterrent safety measures. In adopting such rules and regulations, the department shall consider information including, but not limited to: (i) the best practices for reducing bird collisions with buildings and building glass developed by the division of migratory bird
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05688-01-9
A. 705 2
management in the United States fish and wildlife service, and (ii) the credit for bird collision deterrence developed as part of the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) green building rating system, adopted by the United States green building council. The commissioner shall update such rules and regulations no less than every five years.
(c) Whenever a building undergoes construction work or substantial reconstruction work such building shall be designed and constructed to comply with bird collision deterrent safety measures.
(d) The commissioner shall not issue a certificate of occupancy pursuant to article one hundred eighteen of this code until the applicant complies with the provisions of this section.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all construction documents received after January 1, 2021.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.