An ordinance seeking to protect Malibu's remaining dark skies and provide lighting guidelines for future development could be in the works.
Commissioners will consider recommending that the City Council initiate an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to establish a lighting ordinance at its Feb. 19 meeting at Malibu City Hall.
Planning Commission Chair John Mazza brought up the idea to introduce a recommendation for a lighting ordinance at the Feb. 4 meeting following a presentation by James Benya, director of the Advanced Lighting Design Program at California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis.
"Light pollution is a growing problem worldwide," Benya said in the hour-long presentation.
Benya laid out a model lighting ordinance, pointing to Anchorage and Tucson as the most progressive.
The ordinance creating zones of light within communities, ranging from conservative to liberal amounts of lighting.
"You could look at your community and create different standards for different parts of your community," said Benya, who was one of the authors of the International Dark Sky Association/Illuminating Engineering Society Model Lighting Ordinance.
Malibu Patch will have more on this story soon.
Light pollution is a emotional mental disease who like to live in the dark!!. At the High School at night it is simply a nuisance to a residential neighborhood.
Sometimes one has to experience good outdoor lighting to know what is possible, what is better, and why.
The new Nobu is lit up like the Oxnard Auto Msll, with very bright light spill onto PCH. 24/7. I am from Tucson, where we learned that enacting the light spill ordinance is not even a quarter of the necessary effort. Enforcement. That's the issue.
Has anyone noted the lights on the proposed esplanade? Check out the lights at the school! I now have a permanent glow in my night sky. When Trancas gets their lights, it will be one continues glow across the Zuma Beach area.
Judi, that is not a permanent glow and you know it. It is less than two percent of nighttime hours.
My neighbor has been discussing this with the school. He has been trying to get them to change them out for lights with less pollution. It hasn't helped! The stadium lights are another matter, all together. You get blasted with those when you come around the corner. It is really bad for my neighbors. I get sky glow when they are on but I haven't trimmed my trees so I don't get it in my living room like I use to. Then again I lost my ocean view that way.
The district must come up with a master dark skies plan for existing lights. I understand that plan has been delivered to the city. We shall see.