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28 <br />What was advertised as the purpose of this revision? <br />A copy of the approved legal advertisement is included as Attachment Two (2) of this <br />abstract. In brief, the advertisement indicated that the proposed amendment would: <br />a. Distinguish the installation and use of outdoor lighting fixtures within urbanizing <br />and rural areas of the County, <br />b. Modifying existing site plan submittal requirements for lighting plans to require <br />additional information on the impact of outdoor lighting on adjacent property <br />owners, and <br />c. Revise existing regulations governing the erection of lights for sports fields and/or <br />outdoor performance areas. <br />Originally, staff had intended to include a provision concerning the adoption of new <br />language relating to the amortization of non-conforming lights. This provision was <br />abandoned when it was discovered that there are multiple, conflicting, policies within the <br />Zoning Ordinance relating to the amortization of non-conforming situations. <br />Staff concluded that it would be more appropriate to address this issue during the <br />development of the UDO to avoid the creation of additional conflicts within the Ordinance. <br />What is a Lumen? <br />The lumen can be thought of casually as a measure of the total "amount" of visible light <br />emitted from a source. (i.e. A lumen is a way of measuring how much light gets to what <br />you want illuminated). <br />Outdoor fixtures have an initial lumen output rating that indicates the total amount of light <br />that will be emitted from that source. Staff is proposing to use this figure as a component <br />in our regulation of outdoor lighting. <br />What is afoot-candle? <br />A foot-candle can be thought of as the amount of light that actually falls on a given <br />surface or a given area of property. Afoot-candle is equal to one (1) lumen per square <br />foot of area. <br />Why is staff proposing to use lumens as the `cap' on allowable lighting for <br />property? <br />A foot-candle is still an industry standard for determining the amount of light generated at <br />a given point on a parcel of property. The problem, however, is that afoot-candle does <br />not properly account for the overall intensity of the light source(s) proposed for a given <br />parcel. While it can tell you how much light is being generated at a given point it cannot <br />provide detail on the overall intensity of the light. <br />A light fixture typically comes with a shielding device that is designed to focus light into a <br />given area. With sufficient shielding, any light source can comply with the existing <br />County standard of generating a set of amount of foot-candles in a given area. A foot- <br />candle measurement would not necessarily detail the overall intensity of an outdoor <br />lighting fixture or provide detail on the total amount of light generated on a given parcel of <br />property. <br />