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Humboldt Supes Narrowly Approve New Lighting Regs · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: A new Humboldt county lighting ordinance seeks to protect and preserve our skies with restrictions on brightness and shielding requirements. But the county board of supervisors Aug. 19 approval of the new regulations wasn't unanimous, with two supervisors voting against them due to concerns about the costs and viability of enforcement. One of the primary means of controlling light is a cap on intensity as measured in lumens. There's a residential limit of 1,100 lumens and 3,200 lumens for commercial, industrial and agricultural uses. Lights are required to be directed downward and either fully shielded or shielded with a translucent material when warm lighting is used in inland areas. Types of lighting prohibited unless approved through a conditional use permit include flashing lights, searchlight style lights, and lighting that distracts the traveling public. Exempt lighting includes temporary holiday decorations, warm colored string lights, and lights that illuminate US Flags. During a public comment period, representatives of Astronomers of Humboldt and Humboldt Waterkeeper welcomed the county's regulation efforts. Various aspects of the ordinance were highlighted by Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper.
• 1:30
  Speaker B: I really want to emphasize support for staff bringing this forward and for making the practical recommendations based on what's easily available in stores. That's super helpful for the average person. Anybody who's, I don't know, of a certain age goes to the store oftentimes and thinks, I only know what. And so you have to figure out what you're trying to buy. And also, the warm color temperature is really critical for migrating birds in particular, which our region is so famous for. It's, you know, it's not only a safety issue for drivers being blinded, it's a cost issue for people saving electricity. Like in McKinleyville, where I live, oftentimes the street light electricity is paid for by the residents whose neighborhood is being lit up by those lights. So saving electricity is another benefit of reducing light pollution and just being able to see the stars.
• 2:26
  Speaker A: The new rules apply to new construction projects, and existing construction is exempt unless its lighting poses a nuisance. Planning director John Ford talked about how nuisances will be defined.
• 2:40
  Speaker C: The only time that we would get into a code enforcement situation with this is when, as the ordinance identifies, is a lighting nuisance that is specifically defined in the ordinance. And a nuisance basically is something that makes it hard for somebody else to enjoy their property. And the examples that we gave at the planning commission are, you know, Charlie's example, where you've got somebody with a spotlight that is just coming in. We've got two or three of these complaints right now. Spotlight coming into their house, they can see the shadow, their own shadow on their wall, inside their house from somebody else's light on an adjoining piece of property. That makes it hard for them to enjoy their property. That's by definition a nuisance. And then we would be working with them to. If they can put a shield on it. Most even most lights can be tilted down, so either shielded or redirected.
• 3:42
  Speaker A: But Supervisor Rex Bone questioned whether the county's code enforcement unit has the resources to back up the ordinance's new rules.
• 3:52
  Speaker D: Who's doing all this? How much staff? You know, I. Tom didn't know he did streetlights, and now he does and he wants part of it. And I'm just trying to figure out who's going to do this, because I would love to see if we have those people on hand now. I would love to have some of them working on some code enforcement stuff that's been going on too long.
• 4:12
  Speaker A: A majority of supervisors supported inland and coastal versions of the ordinance and approved them with modifications, including a 10pm limit on use of string lights. Street lighting and parking lot lighting will be covered in a separate ordinance. Supervisor Michelle Bushnell agreed with Bone on the impracticality of enforcement, and they voted against the ordinance in Eureka. For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.