Leadership in Bird-Friendly Design Council Action - 2005

As a result of citizen scientists and the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP Canada) drawing attention to this issue, in April 2005, Toronto City Council adopted Motion J(17) regarding the “Prevention of Needless Deaths of Thousands of Migratory Birds in the City of Toronto”. This led to the development of the “Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines” (the Guidelines), which was released in 2007.

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Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines - 2007

Toronto’s 2007 Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines was the first Council-adopted document of its kind in North America. The award winning Guidelines provided several strategies and options for making new and existing buildings less of a threat to migratory birds, with a focus on the two key issues that are of critical importance – making glass less dangerous to birds and mitigating light pollution. These strategies could be voluntarily incorporated into the design of new buildings and into retrofit projects of existing buildings by developers and owners respectively.

Toronto Green Standard - 2010

In 2010, the Toronto Green Standard (TGS) came into effect for new development in Toronto. The TGS established performance measures for green development based on local environmental drivers. Performance measures for reducing bird collisions were incorporated into the TGS, thereby defining a green building in Toronto as one that must also be bird-friendly. The bird-friendly standards contained in the TGS have been refined from the 2007 Guidelines to include those that can be implemented through the planning approval process in the Province of Ontario. Toronto demonstrated leadership and innovation by being the first municipality in North America to require new development to incorporate bird-friendly standards. In 2014, the TGS was revised after substantial consultation with the public, architects, planners, designers and the development industry. The consultation process identified the standards for bird-friendly design as the most challenging for the development industry to implement. As a result, the standards were revised. Some were altered, some were amplified, and some were discarded all in the best interest of mitigation and, ultimately, prevention of bird fatalities from striking buildings.

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