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CC 12-01-20 Item No. 11 Bird Safe Dark Sky_Written CommunicationsCC 12-01-20 #11 Bird-Safe Dark Sky Municipal Code Amendment Written Comments 1 Cyrah Caburian From:rmloui <rmloui@gmail.com> Sent:Saturday, November 28, 2020 8:27 PM To:City Council Subject:support bird safe and dark sky ordinance CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the  sender and know the content is safe.    To whom it may concern, I recently learned that Cupertino City Council will be considering an ordinance that can prevent bird deaths and protect wildlife and people from disruptive artificial night lights. I would like to voice my opinion that the ordinance for bird-safe design and dark sky techniques is an excellent proposal and should be passed with no hesitation. With the current rapid rate of species loss on this planet, including birds, we must do all that we can to help local bird species survive and flourish. It is always a wonderful sight to see local birds while out walking my dog during the day and to be able to see the beautiful night sky with the stars and the moon when walking my dog after dark. I feel strongly that it is very important to pass this ordinance for bird safe and dark sky techniques to better the environment for both wildlife and humans alike. It is a win-win for everyone to eliminate or reduce the amount of artificial night lights in Cupertino (and everywhere else on this planet). Thank you and best regards, Rachel Loui 1 Cyrah Caburian From:Janice L. Ross <jross@stanford.edu> Sent:Saturday, November 28, 2020 8:33 PM To:City Council Subject:support bird safe and dark sky ordinance CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the  sender and know the content is safe.    Dear Cupertino City Council Members,     I am writing to ask you to please vote to protect wildlife, and especially prevent birddeaths by approving the ordinance  that contains bird‐safe design techniques.  Equally important is to please, please, vote to protect humans and wildlife from disruptive artificial light at night by  approving Dark Sky techniques.  I greatly respect your service to our community and urge you to be a defender of nature and wildlife for all of us.  thank you,  Janice Ross                  1 Cyrah Caburian From:CYNTHIA CARLEY <cynthiacarley@mac.com> Sent:Saturday, November 28, 2020 8:40 PM To:City Council Subject:support bird safe and dark sky ordinance CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the  sender and know the content is safe.    Dear City Council,    I  appreciate local birds and the beauty of the night sky. I encourage you to seriously consider the ordinance that will  prevent bird deaths and protect wildlife and humans from disruptive artificial light at night.  Sincerely   Cynthia Carley  Member Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club    1 Cyrah Caburian From:MELINDA MacNaughton <nutrimel@comcast.net> Sent:Saturday, November 28, 2020 8:58 PM To:City Council Subject:protect our birds in Cupertino CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the  sender and know the content is safe.    Please support the ordinance to protect birds in the night sky by implementing an ordinance to reduce or shut of  artificial light at night. We already have reduced populations of all animals including birds due to other types of  pollution.  Let's help reduce more deaths by implementing this very easy strategy.   Thank you!       Melinda MacNaughton   10885 Dryden Avenue   Cupertino, CA   1 Cyrah Caburian From:Shani Kleinhaus <shani@scvas.org> Sent:Sunday, November 29, 2020 9:06 PM To:City Council Cc:Piu Ghosh; Erick Serrano; City of Cupertino Planning Dept.; Dashiell Leeds; James Eggers; Matthew Dodder Subject:12.1.2020 Agenda Item 11: Bird-Safe and Dark Sky Regulations Attachments:11.29.2020 SVCAS SCLP letter to Cupertino.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the  sender and know the content is safe.    Dear Mayor Scharf and Cupertino City Councilmembers,   The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter are pleased to support the proposed glazing and lighting regulations. We have been following this process since its inception and are greatly appreciative of your leadership.   We truly appreciate the work Cupertino staff has invested in this item, and the attention by the Planning Commission. The requirement that non‐essential lighting should be turned off at 11PM is especially important, as it allows community and business  activities  to  continue  while  reducing  energy  use  and  unnecessary  light  pollution  to  improve  human  and ecosystem health.  There is an opportunity for the ordinance language to be strengthened and clarified. We have identified five improvements to the language, which are detailed in the attached letter. Please motion to incorporate these changes.  Sincerely,   Shani Kleinhaus, Ph.D.,Environmental Advocate, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society  Dashiell Leeds, Conservation Assistant, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter    November 29, 2020 Cupertino City Hall 10300 Torre Ave Cupertino, CA 95014 RE: 12.1.2020 Agenda Item 11: Bird-Safe and Dark Sky Regulations Dear Mayor Scharf and Cupertino City Councilmembers, The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter are pleased to support the proposed glazing and lighting regulations in front of you tonight. We have been following this process since its inception and are greatly appreciative of your leadership. We truly appreciate the work Cupertino staff has invested in this item, and the attention by the Planning Commission. The requirement that non-essential lighting should be turned off at 11PM is especially important, as it allows community and business activities to continue while reducing energy use and unnecessary light pollution to improve human and ecosystem health. There is an opportunity for the ordinance language to be strengthened and clarified. We have identified five improvements to the language, which are detailed in the following pages. Please motion to incorporate these changes. Sincerely, Shani Kleinhaus, Ph.D., Environmental Advocate Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society Dashiell Leeds, Conservation Assistant Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Summary of our 5 requests: 1) Add “human health” to the purpose statement. 2) For Bird Safe Design, strengthen the standard compliance treatments to ensure that the treatments are visible to all birds and have enough contrast to provide adequate protection. 3) Remove Section B.2.e, which creates a loophole allowing lighting of unlimited brightness in some cases. 4) Adjust the color temperature limit to 2,700 Kelvin (from 3,000 Kelvin) 5) Direct staff to work with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society to create and annually review the list of bird safe treatments. 1) Section 19.102.010 Purpose: Consider adding the protection of human health to the purpose statement Existing language with additions in bold font: “19.102.010 Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to regulate design and construction of structures and accessory elements in all zoning districts to protect the natural environment and human health, particularly enhancing bird-safety and reducing light pollution. This Chapter establishes regulations to reduce bird mortality from windows or other specific glass features that are known to increase the risk of bird collisions and to reduce light pollution that is known to contribute to bird mortality, the reduced visibility of the night sky, and negative human health impacts.” Rationale: Light pollution is hazardous to human health and this should be reflected in the purpose statement of this ordinance. Light pollution, especially high-heat light in the blue wavelengths, has been shown to cause circadian disruption. This alters the sleep/wake cycle, core body temperature, hormone regulation and release, and patterns of gene expression throughout the body. Physiological and epidemiological studies implicate this disruption as a contributing cause to breast and prostate cancers, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar and other affective disorders.1 2) 19.102.030 B.2 Fenestration and Glass Requirements, Standard Compliance Treatments: Please strengthen the standard compliance treatments. Existing language with additions in bold font: “B. Fenestration and Glass Requirements 2. Standard Compliance Treatments: The Planning Division may maintain a list of acceptable bird-safe treatments that may be updated from time to time. The list may include, but not be limited to acceptable treatments, such as opaque glass, window muntins, exterior insect screens, exterior netting, or special glass treatments such as fritting to provide visual cues and reduce the likelihood of bird collisions. Glass treatments must be visible to all bird species, have high color contrast with the glass, and be applied to the exterior (first) surface of the glass.” Rationale: This modified language ensures that all birds will be able to see the glass treatments. The language regarding contrast and exterior application are sourced from Ottawa’s Bird Safe Design Guidelines, November 2020.2 Ottawa’s Guidelines require exterior treatments, stating,  Electric light, particularly at night, disrupts human circadian rhythmicity: is that a problem?. 2015. Richard G. Stevens and Yong Zhu. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375361/ https://safewings.ca/ottawa-guidelines/ “treatments applied to interior surfaces of the glass will not adequately address reflectivity issues. They will also be less effective at reducing transparency issues if reflectivity is not addressed.” For another relevant November 2020 bird-safe document with similar recommendations, see New York’s Bird Friendly Building Design and Construction Requirements Guidance Documents.3 3) Remove Section 19.102.040 B.2.e: which creates a loophole allowing lighting of unlimited brightness. Existing Language: “2. Illumination Levels e. Critical areas of illumination such as stairways, ramps and main walkways may have a higher illumination.” Rationale: As written, this language creates a loophole allowing for lighting of unlimited intensity to be used in these areas, potentially adding significant levels of light pollution. If this language were to be removed, critical areas would instead adhere to the brightness threshold outlined in 19.102.040 B.2.C, which establishes a maximum value of ten foot-candles. We believe 10 foot- candles is more than sufficient to light critical areas. For comparison, the light of the full moon is measured at 0.01 foot-candles. Being one thousand times stronger than the light of the full moon, the already established 10 foot-candle limit is more than enough light, if not an excessive amount of light. 4) 19.102.040 B.3: Adjust the color temperature limit to 2,700 Kelvin (from 3,000 Kelvin) Existing language with additions in bold font: “3. All light sources shall have a maintained correlated color temperature of two thousand seven hundred (2,700) Kelvin or less.” Rationale: Correlated color temperature controls, among other things, the wavelength of the emitted light. With LED technology, the peak of the wavelength has shifted from the yellow to blue light spectrum (see picture below). The blue peak is implicated as the most hazardous to human and ecosystem health. To minimize the blue peak, we strongly recommend using 2700 Kelvin to most effectively minimize impacts to human and ecosystem health, and accommodate the neurologically-diverse population.  https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/buildings/bldgs_bulletins/bird_friendly_guidance_document.pdf (Pictured above: 2,700 Kelvin will significantly reduce the intensity of blue light, relative to 3,000 Kelvin) 5) Section 19.102.030 B.2: Direct staff to work with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society to create and annually review the list of bird safe treatments. Rationale: As bird-safe technology continues to improve, Cupertino should update its list of acceptable bird-safe treatments to accommodate these developments. The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society stays updated on the latest bird-safe treatments and is eager to assist staff in this process.