Foothill Conservancy: Amador County Outdoor Lighting Ordinance Hearing January 28, 2020

FROM THE FOOTHILL CONSERVANCY:

We need your help to ensure that safety, energy savings, and starry skies are part of Amador County’s future.

On Tuesday, January 28 at 10:30 am, the Amador County Board of Supervisors will review a draft outdoor lighting ordinance. The ordinance was developed with the assistance of the International Dark-Sky Association, Amador Astronomical Society, our organization, and members of the public. After three public hearings, the Amador County Planning Commission passed the ordinance on a 3-1 vote.

We need your help to persuade the supervisors to support the ordinance. Please consider attending the hearing at 810 Court St. in Jackson and speaking up. If you can’t attend, please call the board or your own supervisor at 209-223-6470 or send the board an e-mail.  You can download the meeting documents here.

Why we need an outdoor lighting ordinance

The ordinance will:

• Apply only in the county’s unincorporated area.
• Protect public safety by ensuring that lighting fixtures shine on walls and surfaces where they’re needed, not up in the sky.
• Save energy (and save property owners on their PG&E bills) by requiring that future light fixtures  be energy-efficient.
• Protect local residents by ensuring that others’ lighting fixtures don’t shine into their yards or homes.
• Protect views of the dark, night sky for future generations of Amador residents and visitors.
• Protect wildlife, fish, and migratory birds from the adverse effects of light pollution.

As written, the ordinance would apply only to future construction or to the replacement of broken or deteriorated light fixtures. We would also like to see reasonable compliance deadlines for commercial and industrial facilities (5 years to come into compliance) and homes (upon sale of the home, when investing in new outdoor lighting adds value).

We urge you to weigh in on this important issue and hope to see you at the board meeting Tuesday!