Lighting restrictions proposed to council

The Planning and Zoning Commission passed a proposed ordinance that would regulate the size of lighting fixtures and the amount of lighting allowed to be used on commercial properties.

It will now go on to the City Council for discussion and approval in November.

Recent discussions have spanned nearly eight months, but the ordinance is the product of nearly 10 years of debate. Despite taking some heat for the delay, the Planning and Zoning Commission is satisfied with the draft, which council and commission members say will help conserve energy and reduce the amount of light pollution and road glare.

“It’s a very complicated issue, and it takes a good deal of work to get this kind of thing together,” said Karl Skala, former Planning and Zoning Commission member and a leading proponent of the ordinance.

The ordinance would restrict the height of the lighting fixtures to below 28 feet, how bright the lights can be and the position of the fixtures. There would be some exceptions to the regulations.

In October 1998, the council gave the Environment and Energy Commission responsibility to write a residential and commercial lighting ordinance.

The commission went to work, and in June 2000 it presented the report for commercial lighting regulations.

The council thought the report was too comprehensive, Skala said, and sent it back to the committee to take a narrower approach, dealing with only convenience stores and gas canopies.

On Oct. 23, 2001, the EEC submitted their trimmed second report to the council. The report was accepted but no action was taken. After the stall, it became an understanding within the building community that they would self-limit the amount of lighting, Skala said.

Recent debate was sparked by citizens upset with some businesses in Columbia casting off too much light, causing road glare and light pollution into their homes and the night sky.

Among those concerned was Karl Kruse, a former city councilman, who objected specifically to the bright lights of the newly-built Kohl’s in the Red Oak Plaza off Grindstone Parkway.

“It looked like you were looking at a fireworks display three miles away,” Kruse said. “You could see it from Highway 63. It was ridiculous.”

After Kruse and others expressed their concerns last spring, the council decided it was time to take another look at producing an official ordinance.

“We should have ordinances so people know what’s expected,” Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser said. “It’s hard to tell people what to do without a policy.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission received feedback from the community, including the EEC and the Columbia Police Department and referred to publications by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, a society that publishes works on responsible lighting.

Thursday’s work session and commission meeting capped off the lengthy process.

“We’ve kind of wound up in the same place that we’ve started,” Skala said. “Only it’s taken seven years to get there.”