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<br /> 1 <br /> <br />October 14, 2024 <br /> <br />Redwood City Council <br />1017 Middlefield Road <br />Redwood City, CA 94063 <br /> <br />Re: Agenda Item 8.A (10/14/24): Consideration of Digital Billboards in Redwood City <br /> <br />Dear Mayor Gee and Council Members: <br /> <br />Green Foothills submits the following comments with regard to Item 8.A on the October 14 Council <br />agenda regarding potentially constructing digital billboards along Highway 101 in Redwood City. Digital <br />billboards have the potential to negatively impact both wildlife and people due to the effects of light <br />pollution. Please do not proceed with consideration of digital billboards, and keep our current billboard <br />prohibition intact. <br /> <br />The staff report states that Caltrans regulations prohibit digital billboards along a “landscaped freeway” <br />or within 500 feet of another billboard. The staff report further states that within the Highway 101 corridor <br />in Redwood City, only approximately 0.2 miles does not qualify as “landscaped freeway” segments. <br />From the map entitled “Map 1A” in the staff report, it appears as though this 0.2 miles consists of two <br />areas, one located where 101 crosses over Redwood Creek, and one located slightly north of the <br />Woodside Road interchange with 101. <br /> <br />The staff report also mentions the possibility of removing existing static billboards in exchange for <br />allowing new digital billboards in the same location. As shown in Maps 1 and 1.A, those existing static <br />billboards are located on the east side of 101, directly adjacent to the Bair Island Ecological Reserve. <br /> <br />Environmental impacts of digital billboards <br /> <br />According to Dark Sky International, electronic billboards can be up to ten times brighter at night than <br />traditionally lit billboards. Because there is no way to shield or direct the light that digital billboards emit, <br />this nighttime lighting inevitably spills into adjacent areas. Any digital billboards located along Highway <br />101 adjacent to either Redwood Creek or the Bair Island Ecological Reserve would increase the amount <br />of light that shines into these wetland and riparian areas, which are critically important for local wildlife. <br />Bair Island, in particular, is part of the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, a federally-owned nature preserve <br />that provides habitat for many sensitive species, including threatened and endangered species like the <br />Ridgway’s Rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse. <br /> <br />Exposure to artificial light at night can have physiological impacts on wildlife. It can disrupt animals’ <br />circadian rhythms, cause alterations in hormone cycles, and impair the vision of nocturnal animals.1 In <br /> <br />1 Falcón J, Torriglia A, Attia D, Viénot F, Gronfier C, Behar-Cohen F, Martinsons C and Hicks D (2020) Exposure to <br />Artificial Light at Night and the Consequences for Flora, Fauna, and Ecosystems. Front. Neurosci. 14:602796. doi: <br />10.3389/fnins.2020.602796 <br />https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.602796/full