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Residents press town to update lighting ordinance; property owner asks for variance during public comment
Summary
Two members of the public used the June 17 public comment period to urge ordinance changes on residential exterior lighting and to request variances for a small commercial conversion and parking setbacks caused by a street widening.
During the public‑comment portion of the June 17 meeting, two people addressed the Planning and Zoning Commission on non‑agenda matters: one asked the commission to update town lighting rules, and the other sought help resolving zoning/parking impediments caused by a recent street realignment.
Fred Costa, who identified himself in the meeting, urged the town to update Section 4.6.x of the zoning ordinance to regulate light by luminous flux (lumens) rather than by lamp wattage, and to remove a motion‑sensor exemption that currently allows very bright LED fixtures between homes. Costa said the present wattage‑based exemption permits modern, low‑wattage LED fixtures to produce excessive brightness and light trespass. "We need to update that for lumens and not, you know, watts," Costa said, noting the ordinance references several subsections (transcribed as 4.6.08, 4.6.05 and 4.6.09). He told commissioners the current language risks nuisance and potential neighbor disputes.
A second speaker, who identified herself as Carmen and said she owns or occupies an 860‑square‑foot property she rezoned to permit a small barber shop, said a street expansion removed a strip of her lot and pushed her building into nonconformance with required setbacks. Carmen said the loss of property left her about one foot short of a required side setback and that she also faces parking shortfalls for the proposed business. "I'm not able to do that because... I'm missing one foot to the west side," she told the commission, asking staff and commissioners for guidance and a variance so she can expand the structure by roughly 500 square feet to make the barber shop viable.
Staff took no formal action during public comment. Commissioners thanked both speakers; the public comments were recorded and will be part of the meeting minutes.
Ending: Neither item required an immediate staff response or a formal vote, but staff and commissioners may pursue ordinance revisions or a variance process in follow‑up depending on the speakers' next steps.
