New Model Lighting Regs for CT Towns and Cities, Developed by Lights Out CT

GUILFORD, Conn., June 3, 2024––Connecticut towns and cities now have a model law to follow to help limit light pollution and increase energy efficiency in their jurisdictions, thanks to a new model policy developed by Lights Out Connecticut. The Model Outdoor Lighting Regulations for Connecticut, if adopted, would help local governments set comprehensive standards to reduce unnecessary lighting across zones and protect the night sky. 

The general standards include aiming light fixtures exclusively downward, automating lights with devices like timers and motion sensors, and using warm-spectrum bulbs to minimize harmful blue light emissions. Additionally, certain types of potentially dangerous outdoor lights like lasers and strobe lights are prohibited.

Light pollution in North America is growing more than 10 percent each year, according to a 2023 study. This has increased public concern in Connecticut and other states about current light pollution levels and the risks that can come with too much nighttime lighting, such as sleep disturbances, increased disease burdens, and unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions linked to wasted energy. 

“We created this model policy because advocates and town officials have been asking us for a draft lighting ordinance that they can bring to their town council,“ said Meredith Barges, co-chair of Lights Out Connecticut, who co-authored the policy. “We’re seeing more and more communities in Connecticut reevaluating the importance of the nighttime environment, both for human health and biodiversity.” 

In March, the Town of Greenwich passed the most comprehensive outdoor lighting law in the state. That ordinance resulted from advocacy efforts organized by local leaders from Lights Out Greenwich and the Greenwich Department of Sustainability. Greenwich’s new law is part of a growing trend of towns and cities in Connecticut passing more rigorous laws to regulate the sources and amounts of artificial lighting at night. 

Lights Out CT’s model lighting policy uses simple-to-understand language and provides basic standards that businesses, residents, and municipalities must follow when installing and replacing outdoor lighting. The policy was designed to be adaptable, allowing municipalities to tailor the requirements to their own needs

Importantly, the model regulations are informed by existing lighting laws in Connecticut, including ordinances in Southbury and New Haven, as well as the Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting created by DarkSky International and the Illuminating Engineering Society, two nonprofits dedicated to improving the nighttime environment.

“This template, developed by Lights Out Connecticut, will provide guidance to Connecticut municipalities on best practices for regulating outdoor lighting in Connecticut,” said Leo Smith, chair of the Connecticut Chapter of DarkSky International. 

Some of the largest sources of light pollution in Connecticut and elsewhere are 24-hour LED streetlights and intense floodlights that shine around the clock across property lines into neighbors’ windows in what is called “light trespass.” This problem has magnified in recent years with the sales of different types of low-cost, outdoor LED lights, including now-popular cheap, decorative solar-powered lights, that cumulatively take a toll on the nighttime environment.

Because the model regulations will most likely become part of a municipal zoning code, the lighting regulations, if adopted, would only apply to new lighting at buildings and refurbishments, not existing lighting. Barges explained, “Over time municipalities that adopt this model policy will see decreases in light pollution levels. At a minimum, it will help to slow the persistent increase in light pollution that communities have seen over the last 15 years.”

You can download Lights Out Connecticut’s Model Outdoor Lightings Regulations for free at www.lightsoutct.org/model-municipal-lighting-policy-for-connecticut 

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ABOUT LIGHTS OUT CONNECTICUT

Lights Out Connecticut is a nonprofit project of the Menunkatuck Audubon Society, part of Audubon Connecticut, working across Connecticut to pass meaningful nighttime light policies and increase public understanding of the harms of light pollution for migratory birds and local ecosystems. It was the primary organization behind Public Act 23-143, the Connecticut state law requiring unnecessary outdoor lights at state-owned buildings to be turned off for birds from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m year-round. For more information, visit www.lightsoutct.org 

MEDIA CONTACT

Meredith Barges
Co-Chair, Lights Out Connecticut  
Email: contact@lightsoutct.org