Government

‘Dark skies’ regs back in the spotlight

REPORTER FILE PHOTO | There was a lively discussion on a proposed new “dark skies” law at Town Hall Tuesday.

What a difference a week makes.

The Shelter Island Town Board at its April 9 work session discussed new regulations for lighting fixtures on private and commercial properties — a so-called “dark skies law” — with no members of the public present. With four board members at that meeting and Supervisor Jim Dougherty absent, an agreement seemed to be made to look at other ways to solve light pollution problems other than legislation. But Tuesday advocates of new regulations were at Town Hall in strength to make their case, and the board agreed more discussion was warranted.

The issue has been debated for several weeks, sparked by a proposed law drafted by Town Attorney Laury Dowd at the request of the Zoning board of Appeals. April 9 Councilmen Paul Shepherd and Ed Brown noted they had looked into it and found only four neighbor’s complaint in 10 years, so a new law would be a governmental overreach.

A representative of the Shelter Island Association told the board Tuesday that her group wanted a public hearing on the issue.

Linda Holmes said the number of complaints to the police was academic since there was no law on the books a person could refer to when making a complaint.

Ms. Holmes said the reason the ZBA asked for regulations is they were the group fielding complaints, not the police. As of now there’s no recourse to a neighbor’s excessive lighting, she said.

Mr. Shepherd said, as he had in the past, that there was already a nuisance ordinance on the books.

“There’s no protection for an aggrieved neighbor at the moment,” Ms. Holmes said.

“Nor is there anything specific protecting people from aggrieved neighbors,” Mr. Shepherd answered.

Councilman Brown noted that problems in the past have been worked out satisfactorily between neighbors. He said that he’s heard from many constituents that new regulations would be “too much government involvement, too much government intrusion.”

Several members of the public spelled out three problems: light trespassing; a general loss of quality of life over the years by too much artificial light and an environmental hazard for wildlife.

Councilwoman Chris Lewis, the most vocal supporter of new regulations on the board, spoke on the environmental issue and how she had seen the Island’s dark skies slowly disappearing over the years. “I don’t believe in waiting,” she said, adding there was a need for “preventative medicine.”

“It’s problem we don’t have,” Mr. Shepherd said, as several members of the pubic refuted his statement.

Jack Kiffer, owner of The Dory, a vocal opponent of new regulations said, “We don’t need government laws and regulations for personal issues.”

Joe Cunningham, sitting next to Mr. Kiffer, said lived near The Dory and thanked Mr. Kiffer for graciously turning off a spotlight that had been bothering him.

A member of the public said that when a noise ordinance was passed years ago the same arguments of government overreach were employed.

David Draper asked the board to put something on paper people could discuss specifically. Councilman Peter Reich said the purpose of work sessions was to hammer out drafts, and Mr. Dougherty termed Ms. Dowd’s current draft “obsolete.”

The Supervisor pointed out that his absence at the previous work session when an agreement to table the dark skies issue seemed to have been made was because of important town business. He said Tuesday that his colleagues “maybe took advantage of my absence.”

Near  the end of the discussion a member of the public said, on the issue of government overreach, that communities don’t need laws for 98 percent of the people who act responsibly but for the 1 or 2 percent who don’t.

The board promised more discussion, a draft of any new regulations to be made available, and a public hearing in the future.