Whitefish's dark sky ordinance to take effect

The night skies should be a little darker in Whitefish next week when the city's dark sky ordinance takes effect.

It's been three years since the City Council passed the law requiring full cutoff light fixtures and stricter rules for commercial lighting. Now it's time to enforce the law, starting Monday.

Residents with porch or yard lights will be affected. Homeowners are required to install full cutoff light fixtures that allow all the light to shine downward, not upward or horizontal.

There is an option, however, for those who don't have the means to install new fixtures. Homeowners may keep existing fixtures but must use dimmer bulbs. Lights without any type of shielding will be limited to 45-watt bulbs. Fixtures that are partially shielded can use bulbs up to 60 watts, but the bulbs can't be visible. The top must be opaque, or the fixture must be under an opaque structure.

Commercial exterior lighting also is subject to the new law. If an existing pole is 30 feet or less, it doesn't need to be changed; only the light fixture needs to be changed to the full cutoff style. Poles taller than 30 feet must be brought into compliance by Monday.

Whitefish's light law bans the use of mercury vapor lights and requires canopy lights, such as service-station lighting, to be fully shielded, with recessed lights with diffusers that don't extend below the canopy surface.

Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns said the city hasn't gotten much public feedback about the light law, but that could change once the code-enforcement officer begins enforcing the law. With most city ordinances, enforcement typically is prompted by a complaint.

"There will be no light police, except on a complaint basis, or if [city officials' see an egregious example" of noncompliance, Stearns said.

The city is still working to retrofit all of its decorative street lamps with adapters that limit the light from shining upward. Although the adapters don't convert the lamps into full cutoff fixtures, "it satisfied the council with the ordinance was adopted," Whitefish Public Works Director John Wilson said.

Whitefish's dark sky ordinance follows the philosophy of the International Dark Sky Association, a nonprofit group that strives to build awareness of the problem of light pollution and of the solutions.

The association defines light pollution as any adverse effect of manmade light, including sky glow, glare, light trespass, light clutter, decreased visibility at night and energy waste.

The city's spring newsletter offered a coupon for a free, low-lumen bulb through a program sponsored by the city and Nelson's Ace Hardware in Whitefish. In May and June, 127 homeowners made use of the free light-bulb coupons.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com