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ATTACHMENT ONE (1) 13 <br />Ordinance Amendment with staff comments <br />STAFF COMMENT. What staff is attempting to do is establish a <br />benchmark on what is an acceptable level of lighting. As we already do <br />with impervious surface area and open space, staff is attempting to define <br />what is a sustainable level of outdoor lighting for various properties <br />throughout the County. <br />In developing these thresholds staff relied on the following: <br />Staff analyzed several lighting plans, both approved and <br />currently under review, in different areas of the County to <br />ascertain the existing, approved, lighting levels for non- <br />residential development. <br />Staff also examined lighting levels at existing non- <br />residential developments throughout the County including: <br />Churton Grove, two (2) existing gas stations located within <br />the White Cross Rural Community Activity Node, the <br />Petro truck stop, Gravely Hill Middle School, the Solid <br />Waste Administrative office, and Can boro Plaza. <br />2. Staff reviewed documentation by the Intemational Dark <br />Sky Association (Mont. darksky.org outlining the various <br />initial lumens produced by various outdoor lighting <br />fixtures. <br />3. Staff determined that there is a base level of acceptable <br />lighting after reviewing the prevailing literature on the <br />topic, which is approximately ten (10) initial lumens per <br />square feet of property, and developed the lumen limit, <br />basing the total allowable level of lighting for a given site <br />on its acreage. What staff is attempting to do is establish <br />the minimum lighting threshold for all non - residential <br />development and, ultimately, require that more lighting will <br />only be allowed if there is sufficient land area to offset its <br />development. <br />Staff has also modified the acceptable foot - candle generation for non- <br />residential developments in urbanizing versus rural areas of the County. <br />We currently have a `one size tits all' construct that does not differentiate <br />between the needs of urban and rural residents. While more attention <br />needs to be paid to this issue, this is a initial attempt to address this <br />problem consistent with the approved legal ad. <br />9-.C. All floodlights shall be installed such that the fixture shall be <br />