Though Utah leads the world with nine Dark Sky Parks, lighting in Park City is becoming a growing issue. One city official says the city needs to change the current complaint-based method of enforcing the code that says outdoor lighting is not allowed. Melissa Allison has more:
Darksky.org reported, due to light pollution, “millions of children across the globe will never experience the Milky Way where they live."
Science Advances journal published a study in 2016 that found 80 percent of the world lives with light polluted skies, while 99% of Europeans and Americans experience skyglow at night.
When asked about local homes that use lighting for their landscape, Park City Planning Director Bruce Erickson said the city’s code is clear about what type of lighting is permitted in Park City.
“Outdoor lighting is only allowed in really minor incidences," Erickson said. "You may not light up your house for architectural reasons. You can only downlight with LED’s in your landscaping – uplighting is not normally permitted. The difficulty is code enforcement of this one and just the actual enforcement of the regulations.”
Erickson said the city council needs to make a policy decision about whether they’re going to enforce the code.
The historic district he added, has the same problem.
“People have installed floodlights on automatic timers that go on all night long," Erickson said. "We’ve got a couple of incidences where houses and condominiums are just lighting up the front of their façade all night long and causing glare. So community development director Laurent and I are really looking hard at what to do about these things.”
While there are some exceptions to the rule, Erickson said outdoor lighting is not allowed.
I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.