Chicago's Bird Friendly Design Ordinance: Where Things Stand
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, August 3, 2023. Photo by Katharine Spencer.
words by Carl Giometti
In light of the October 5 mass avian mortality event, concerned citizens have raised a lot of great questions about the efforts in Chicago to pass a bird friendly building ordinance. In order to provide clarity on what has been done, what’s currently on the books, how it all works, and what comes next, we tapped Carl Giometti for an explanation. Carl is an architect, former COS president, and founding member of Bird Friendly Chicago, who has worked directly with partners and the city to develop the policies we have in place today.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. September 13, 2023. This bird collided with the BMO tower, a LEED-certified building completed in 2022 and dubbed “Chicago’s Healthiest Office Tower.” Photo by Robyn Detterline.
How We Got Here
Bird Friendly Chicago (BFC) was created as a joint organization between the Chicago Ornithological Society, Chicago Audubon Society, and Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. Together they have worked with various municipalities, but mostly Chicago, to try to pressure government leaders to act. One of the early supporters was Alderman Brian Hopkins, and, with his help, BFC was able to get representatives added to the Mayor's Committee (At that time Rahm Emanuel was mayor.) creating a Sustainable Development Policy that would be administered by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD).
When BFC joined the committee to write a new policy, DPD staff were very cooperative in the development process and helped give various bird friendly measures point values toward meeting the new policy. These points are important because in order to meet the standards of the Sustainable Development Policy, projects have to reach a certain number of points. In order to do this, developers are given a menu of projects with point values that they can choose to incorporate. For example, you might get 10 points for having certain stormwater measures, 20 points for becoming LEED certified, 10 points for certain bird friendly design elements, and so forth. Pick enough of these options that add up to the required point threshold, and your development satisfies the policy requirements.
However, after a few years of having this policy in place, it became apparent that very few projects were choosing any of the bird friendly building menu items. BFC continued to push aldermanic partners in asking for a true ordinance that would compel all projects to incorporate bird friendly design, not just those that fall under the DPD authority. Unfortunately, this never received much support even as peer cities like New York did just that. What was accomplished in 2020 was the passage of city council action directing the DPD to place greater emphasis on bird friendly measures: Ordinance O2020-136.
Not long after the ordinance passed, COVID hit, and implementation lagged as city hall's priorities changed significantly. More recently, DPD has resumed working on implementing the new policy, but the effort has been slow, which brings us to today as we continue to wait and birds suffer.
Northern Waterthrush. September 13, 2023. This bird also collided with the newly constructed BMO tower at 320 S. Canal. Photo by Robyn Detterline.
What the Ordinance and Policy Actually Do
While the passage of any kind of ordinance was cause for celebration, it still only represents a first step towards a full ordinance. While the new policy does require projects that fall under DPD scope to incorporate bird friendly measures, the number of projects overseen by DPD is too few. Projects come under direct control of the DPD when they "get" something from the city. Among other things, this can mean they're receiving TIF funds, a zoning variance, or establishing a Planned Development. The number of projects on an annual basis that go through the department is around a few hundred and encompasses a large majority of the really complicated projects that happen in the city. Projects that do not fall in this category ("by right" projects or those done under existing Planned Development agreements) typically only receive a cursory zoning review by the Building Department. This represents the bulk of building projects permitted in Chicago.
Additionally, even in the projects that do fall under DPD authority, there are drawbacks in implementation. First, these policies can change and exceptions can be granted without city council action, (i.e., It can be an administrative adjustment.) leaving it open to influence by connected project teams. And second, while the DPD could plausibly withhold a building permit or perhaps a certificate of occupancy for a project that doesn't comply with what was required, the DPD is short-staffed and does not have any inspectors in the department.
Common Yellowthroat. October 5, 2022. This bird also collided with the newly constructed BMO tower at 320 S. Canal. Photo by Robyn Detterline.
What Comes Next
The trouble with all of the current measures is that even if a full ordinance was passed today, it would be decades until a critical mass of buildings were treated with bird friendly building measures. So what comes next and can be done in the meantime?
Review American Bird Conservancy (ABC) guidelines for how to make your house or building bird friendly. There are rampant misconceptions about what will and won't help prevent window collisions. ABC's work on this is the gold standard.
Contact your alderman or political representative and tell them you want a Bird Friendly Building ordinance just like Local Law 15 implemented in New York City, not just a department policy.
Read Six Bird Friendly Actions You Can Take Today on the COS blog and do one, two, or all of them!
One final note: the text for the new policy was written by several people with Bird Friendly Chicago; however, one person pulled it all together and made it a wonderfully crafted guide on how to build bird-friendly. Claire Halpin, unfortunately, suddenly passed away a few months ago, but her work on this issue lives on, particularly with the recently enacted Evanston Bird Friendly Ordinance.