Supervisors approve update to county Light Pollution Code

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors gives its initial support to an update of the county’s Light Pollution Code.

The 3-0 vote April 20, with Supervisor Ron Roberts en route to China for a trade mission and Supervisor Bill Horn spending the day on jury duty, approves the introduction of the ordinance amendments. A second reading and adoption will be brought before the board on May 11, and the ordinance changes would become effective June 10.

The April 20 vote also adopts the environmental Negative Declaration for the proposed amendments and refers a Planning Commission recommendation on billboard signs to the fiscal year 2005-06 budget process (the county’s 2005-06 budget is expected to be adopted in late June). Concerns from the Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group were referred to county staff and the sponsor group for possible future action involving special considerations for that community.

“It reaffirms the county’s concern for dark skies, both for the quality of the citizens and the utility of the astronomers,” said Paul Etzel, the director of the Mount Laguna Observatory. “It matters to them.”

The county’s Light Pollution Code was originally adopted by the Board of Supervisors in December 1984 in order to limit harmful effects of outdoor lighting on the Palomar and Mount Laguna observatories. The code regulates any new outdoor lighting fixtures which require an electrical permit from the County of San Diego, thus helping to minimize new sources of sky glow which brighten the night sky. The code does not apply to vehicles, public streets, or lights owned by utilities, although those sources are all regulated in other ways or by other jurisdictions. All areas within a 15-mile radius of the Palomar Observatory or the Mount Laguna Observatory are in Zone A, which has more stringent lighting restrictions including limits on decorative lighting, while the rest of the area under county land use jurisdiction is designated as Zone B.

Since Indian reservation land is not under county jurisdiction, the Light Pollution Code does not apply on tribal lands, although Etzel notes that many reservations echo the county directives. “Some of the reservations are very concerned about it and trying to follow that intent,” he said. “There are some tribes who want to conform to the intent of county ordinances. Some of them have been rather proactive in that regard.”

The intent of the updates was to remove obsolete language, clarify vague and prohibitive provisions, and resolve minor zoning and building code matters not currently addressed. While it provides for additional protection of dark skies, the code also provides additional leniency when astronomical use is not adversely affected. Increased awareness of the adverse impacts of light pollution combined with technological advances have led to new industry standards which provide greater choice in selecting light fixtures than was available 20 years ago. Types of light fixtures which had been prohibited due to potential adverse impacts on the observatories can now mitigate adverse impacts through the use of shielding and motion sensors.

The proposed amendments were supported by the San Diego Area Lighting Advisory Committee, which is an advisory group composed of representatives from the observatories, the light industry, the sign industry, and the Dark Skies Association. Letters of support were also received separately from both observatories.

“The observatory has been very appreciative of the county’s policy on good lighting,” said W. Scott Kardel, the public affairs coordinator for Palomar Observatory.

Palomar Observatory is operated by the California Institute of Technology. Caltech is located in Pasadena, and much of the work performed at Palomar Observatory was previously conducted at the Mount Wilson Observatory before the light pollution in the Los Angeles area made Mount Wilson unsuitable for many astronomical needs.

The Mount Laguna Observatory is operated by San Diego State University. “County staff has been very responsive, in my opinion,” Etzel said.

Etzel noted that the responsiveness was to lighting industry requirements as well as to the astronomy community. “I think that it will benefit the citizens at large of San Diego County, not just the astronomers,” he said.

The county’s Planning Commission heard the update proposal on February 18, and one of the Planning Commission recommendations addressed billboard sign lighting, which is reported to be the greatest contributor to sky glow. County staff noted that conducting an inventory of all non-conforming billboard signs within the

unincorporated county would require surveying all county roads to confirm or deny the presence of any billboards. That process would take one-half to one staff year and would cost approximately $60,000. The funding associated with that inventory will be considered during the fiscal year 2005-06 budget process.

Borrego Springs has been ranked as one of the top ten dark sky communities in the United States. “We want to keep it that way,” said Kurt Levens, the vice-chair of the Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group.

Levens called for the expansion of the Light Pollution Code to include the vicinity of Borrego Springs. “For the most part the recommended changes appear to be the positive result of consensus and compromise,” he said. “The point is to not send light directly into the sky.”

Levens also expressed concern about some exemptions from shielding requirements.

The county’s Light Pollution Code does not apply to incorporated cities, but Etzel hopes that it will be used as a model for the City of San Diego. “The city should follow the county in their efforts,” he said.