Sandpoint preps to enforce outdoor lighting code

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Sandpoint City Hall is advising residents that it will step up enforcement of its outdoor lighting code, often referred to as the “dark sky ordinance,” which seeks to “protect public safety, reduce glare and light trespass, preserve neighborhood character, and safeguard Sandpoint’s night skies while ensuring that necessary lighting for security and circulation remains effective and efficient,” officials stated in a Jan. 16 news release.

Following a period of outreach and education, the city will begin enforcement efforts in the spring. Compliance with the ordinance requires that exterior lighting — with some exceptions — must meet a number of standards:

• All exterior lighting must generally use “full cutoff” (that is, fully shielded) fixtures that direct light downward and “prevent any light from being emitted horizontally or upward into the night sky.” In addition, the bulb must not be visible from surrounding properties or public rights-of-way.

• Unshielded fixtures are permitted only if they produce fewer than 260 lumens per fixture and have an opaque top.

• Partially shielded fixtures are allowed up to 640 lumens per fixture, but only if the bulb is not visible from other properties and the fixture has an opaque top.

• “Area lights,” including parking lot and yard lights, must be fully shielded and meet foot-candle standards for light levels as outlined by the Illuminating Engineering Society.

• Exterior lighting cannot spill onto neighboring properties or public streets, “and must be installed or adjusted to prevent glare and unwanted illumination beyond the property boundary.”

• Other than in limited, engineered situations allowed by City Code, lighting is prohibited from being directed upward into the sky.

• Though with limited exceptions, freestanding light poles are limited to 20 feet in height.

• Canopy and service station lighting must be recessed so that no light source is visible and no glare is cast onto streets or adjacent properties.

• Non-essential commercial lighting is strongly encouraged to be turned off after business hours, with timers or motion sensors recommended.

Non-compliant exterior lighting will trigger a notification to the property owner from the city and guidance on how to bring it in line with code. Property owners will then have 10 to 60 days to bring their lighting into compliance. 

“The city’s primary objective is to work collaboratively with property owners to achieve compliance,” officials stated. “In the event that non-compliant lighting remains uncorrected after notice and ample opportunity to resolve the issue, the city may take additional steps available under state law to address the situation.”

City Councilor Pam Duquette has been a longtime advocate for dark sky policies, and brought up code enforcement at the Jan. 7 meeting of the council, to which Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker responded, “We enforce our dark sky code with every permit application.”

“That doesn’t help what’s already been done and [is] being done,” Duquette said, going on to refer to one of her neighbors, who she said has complained numerous times to the city about obtrusive lighting at a nearby business, but to no avail.

“It’s just really ruining the dark, the night sky,” she said, later adding, “We have a code that people are not following, and people don’t know we have a code.”

To that, Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm promised to look into how to “elevate the level of enforcement of that section of code,” and make it “a high priority” for City Hall.

“[It’s] probably not a high priority with everybody, but it is a code that isn’t being enforced, and it’s something that’s near and dear to my heart,” Duquette said.

Staff members with the Sandpoint Building Division can help property owners understand the code and identify compliant fixture options. For more information or to schedule a compliance review, call the Building Division at 208-263-3423. For more information about compliant lighting, go to bit.ly/Sandpoint-DarkSky.