Board may tone down some light standards

The Kalispell Planning Board has set an Oct. 25 workshop to tweak the city's fledgling lighting-standards law.

That decision came after three people - two engineers and an astronomy club president - told the board Tuesday that dropping the top legal height of a light pole from 30 feet to 25 feet would have the opposite effect from what was intended and likely would create additional glare because more intense light would be reflected off the ground into the air.

The board also discussed some other proposed changes to the city's new lighting-standards law, which the City Council passed in August in response to Kalispell's commercial and residential growth over the past several years.

Board members scheduled a 7 p.m. Oct. 25 public workshop to nail down the nuances of some proposed changes, which then will be voted on Nov. 8 before being sent to the City Council for a final decision.

On Tuesday, the planning board looked at the following proposed adjustments to the law:

-Changing the angles of how certain lights are aimed, which affects glare.

-Lowering the maximum allowed height of a light pole from 30 to 25 feet. The city staff selected the 25-foot figure after checking with other towns to find they had adopted that height.

-Changing the lenses in some commercial lights on poles exceeding 25 feet in height, instead of cutting the poles.

City officials say most fix-it actions will be relatively minor and cheap.

Light fixtures at homes will be inspected only if the city staff receives complaints about them. Existing commercial buildings have until 2008 to comply and can also ask for two one-year extensions beyond that deadline.

All four people who spoke at Tuesday's hearing supported the general concept of a lighting standards law.

However, Kalispell-based contractor Michael Blend asked the board to consider recommending grandfathering in existing light fixtures in their current states, if they were built according to the code specifications in place when they were set up.

Kalispell residents Terry Dahlquist, a mechanical engineer, and Todd Foley, an electrical engineer, both said that the proposal to lower the maximum light pole height from 30 feet to 25 feet could backfire. That's because a light on a shorter pole would concentrate more illumination into a smaller area, and bounce more light off the ground back into the sky, they said.

Fred Paulson, president of the Big Sky Astronomy Club, agreed with the other two that a lower pole leads to more reflection off the ground. He said the law could use other minor adjustments, such as on how flag poles are illuminated.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com.