Humboldt County adopts outdoor lighting rules after hours of debate; vote 3-2

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted new indoor and coastal outdoor lighting ordinances aimed at reducing light trespass, protecting night skies and reducing impacts to sensitive biological resources. The measures passed on a 3-2 vote after more than two hours of staff presentation, public comment and board deliberation.

Planning staff said the ordinances require downward-directed, fully shielded fixtures or, as an alternative, warm-color (2,700 kelvin maximum) fixtures with shielding; set lumen limits for common uses; and establish enforcement for new and nuisance lighting. Rianne Meakin, associate planner in the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department, told the board, "We are not trying to prohibit lighting. We are simply trying to minimize unnecessary lighting of areas that transpires onto neighboring properties." Meakin presented both an inland and a coastal version; the coastal ordinance substitutes the term "environmentally sensitive habitat areas (ESHA)" where the inland version refers to "biological resources."

The ordinances set residential outdoor lights at a 1,100-lumen maximum and commercial/industrial lights at a 3,200-lumen maximum. Meakin said the higher lumen thresholds respond to locally available fixtures and were adjusted from earlier drafts presented to the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission recommended adoption in May by a 6-0 vote. Dozens of residents and local organizations spoke at Tuesday’s hearing. Mark Wilson, vice president of Astronomers of Humboldt, told the board his group supports the ordinance and called it a way to "put Humboldt County in the…