ORD-2003-037 - Outdoor Lighting Standards Zoning Ordinance Amendment

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0020 8 DRAFT 1 "One caveat to that to governmental agencies is that when you use cut-off fixtures, it a� 2 requires more fixtures in a given area to illuminate the same surface such as a roadway. We first 3 experimented with cut -off lighting in the Charlotte Metropolitan area over 20 years ago, and it has 4 very many advantages, but one of its disadvantages is that often times it takes more lights in a 5 distance to have the same uniformity ratio and the same illumination. 6 7 "So, what that translates to is more cost for agencies requesting tights, DOT, 8 municipalities, even private parties that want to illuminate a subdivision. I'm not saying that this is 9 a bad thing. It is just a fact of life that will happen in many cases. 10 11 "The other item I wanted to mention is the prohibition of mercury vapor. One thing to '12 keep in mind on that is that, currently, that is the low -cost option as approved by the Utility 13 Commission for most requesting parties. Mercury vapor is available in cut -off fixtures so the light 14 pollution issue would be address but the consumption issue would remain. 15 16 "One side note about the consumption issue: the rates for mercury vapor lights are a flat 17 rate, it's not based on consumption, it is based on flat rate. Mercury vapor fixture is a low -cost 18 option because it is less cost to install and it's less cost to maintain. The rates are set and they 19 are based on the cost of the consumption, the cost of the facilities and the cost that Duke Power 20 has to expend going out there and making a repair trip. Metal Halide has more maintenance 21 involved than the mercury vapor, even though it is more efficient. So there are some trade --offs. 22 It's not a linear comparison that can be made sometimes. 23 24 "The other thing is that the electricity that is used for lighting at night is really not wasted 25 energy. i know that is hard to comprehend sometimes but the power system that Duke Power 26 and the other utilities use to generate electricity is designed to address peak loading situations 27 which occur during the daytime. We have to build that generation whether we use it or not. And 29 at night when the load is down, we've still got that generation available at really no extra cost. 29 And using it for illumination actually offsets the cost during peak times. it's kind of like building a 30 four -lane road to get to Kenan Stadium but you only need it ten times a year, but you've got that 31 road there all, it would be nice if you could use it every day of the year and offset the cost of it, 32 and that is how lighting is viewed. And again the flat rate and the maintenance cost are 33 considered in what the Commission approves for us to build. 34 35 "in closing, i would like to say that Duke Power, and I, myself, would be glad to continue 36 the dialogue with the County and other interested parties. We appreciate the opportunity we've 37 had so far. We look forward to getting effective, and simple and, ultimately, workable Ordinance." 39 39 A. Nicole Gooding -Ray "is there anyone who was not signed up to speak who would 40 like to speak to this issue at this time? OK." 41 42 Bann Jacobs "I would like to make some comments. First, unless i missed it, I didn't see 43 anything in here about subdivision signs, which are basically advertising signs. We don't light 44 our street signs. I don't see why we would allow the lighting of subdivision signs. 45 46 "1 would tike to second Mr. Bryan's comment. I think it would be probably more in 47 keeping with Duke Power recommendation to have a simple, cleaner way of looking at fixtures 48 on a periodic basis. I don't know how that affects the exemptions. C, if you are talking about 49 publicly — funded street fights or if you are talking about all street lights. I'm not sure we have 50 control over publicly- funded street lights, but we do have over privately- funded street lights. 51 Probably the grossest light polluter in central Orange County is DOT's new interchange at