Conservation committee backs staff recommendation: oppose nighttime stadium lighting at Priory event

The Conservation Committee voted to authorize a letter and to send a representative to the Planning Commission hearing urging the commission to follow staff recommendations prohibiting nighttime lighting for a proposed multi-day Priory event. Judy Murphy told the committee the event application proposes several large flood-style stanchions that would each exceed Portola Valley’s 1,125-lumen single-source cap and therefore conflict with the town’s dark-sky provisions and the site’s conditional use permit.

"The conservation committee strongly urges the planning commission to include [the staff's] recommendation that no nighttime lighting be allowed when they approve this event," Murphy said. Planning staff had recommended approval of the occasional-event permit but with the condition barring nighttime field lighting; committee members argued a focused letter from the conservation committee would stress dark-sky and precedent concerns more effectively than broader complaints about noise or traffic.

After debate about timing and wording, the committee moved and carried a motion authorizing Judy Murphy and one other committee member to prepare and present the letter at the Planning Commission hearing the following night. The committee did not attempt to block the overall event at the meeting but focused its request on enforcing dark-sky and CUP conditions.