Later this year, city council is expected to approve an amendment to the municipal code regulating outdoor lighting—commonly known as a Dark Sky Ordinance. A draft of that ordinance went before the Planning Commission on Monday, where five commissioners and a handful of residents met to tighten some screws before the final council hearing.
“The purpose of the ordinance is to reduce light pollution to preserve enjoyment of the night time sky and the city’s rural environment, reduce impacts on wildlife and natural habitats, and promote the city’s goal of conserving energy and natural resources,” according to a city report. It has been in the works for about five years, and includes guidelines: Light must be directed away from the ocean, beaches and ESHA buffers; lighting fixtures must be fully shielded, to not direct light upward into the sky; automatic timers and motion detectors must be used to activate lights after a certain curfew; et cetera.
In the many tweaks, adjustments and modifications made to the proposed Malibu Dark Sky Ordinance that went before the city’s planning commission Monday night, commissioners stopped just short of what Commissioner Jeff Jennings called “imposing controls over an entire different function of the way people live in town”—regulating the way residents use lights inside their own homes.
That was perhaps the most controversial suggestion proposed by members the commission, which met to hammer out the ordinance before passing it on to council for final approval.
Commissioner John Mazza first made the suggestion, saying that as the wording of the ordinance stands, “you could put a spotlight in your living room.”
Fellow commissioners—and city staff—pointed out that in the five years leading up to the final ordinance adoption, this type of regulation has never been researched, studied or discussed.
“To do this on the fly, just sort of on a whim, is to me, not the way public policy gets done,” Jennings said. Mazza clarified that he was suggesting a relatively low standard.
“I don’t care how you want to set the standard, but the fact of the matter is, now you’re telling people what they can do inside their house and how they can light inside their house,” Jennings said, later adding, “That’s not the way public policy should be done.”
“I disagree with your premise,” Mazza replied. “We’re not regulating anything inside the house. We’re regulating what is allowed to go outside of the house, which is what this ordinance is about.”
Commissioner Mikke Pierson weighed in, pointing out that a change to the ordinance at this point would not allow input from members of the public.
“Yeah, I’ve been complaining about indoor spill for so long, but despite me wanting it, it has not been part of the public process,” Pierson said. “I just don’t think we can go there yet, because it has not been part of the public process.”
Chair Chris Marx clarified with staff that there would be a public hearing at a city council meeting, but commissioners took an informal poll and decided not to proceed with that regulation.
Another key issue raised at the meeting Monday was that of regulation and enforcement.
Right at the beginning of the hearing, Mazza raised the issue of how rulebreakers will be discovered.
“What are they going to do, walk up and down the beach?” Mazza asked. “You have to have some way of civilian enforcement, or at least civilian referral.”
Mazza’s premise was that people would be uncomfortable reporting violations in their own neighborhoods.
“I don’t know if people are gonna want to narc on their neighbor over a lightbulb,” Mazza said.
“My experience in Malibu West is people complain about everything right to their neighbor’s face all the time,” Pierson replied.
In the end, the commission asked that council consider “alternative enforcement options,” but the commission did not suggest any themselves.
Other Suggestions From the Commission:
- Changing the timeline for compliance to:
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- 12 months for gas stations
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- 18 months for commercial zones
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- 30 months for all other zones—including residential
- Not lighting outdoor sports courts
- Not lighting steep slopes, since they are often wildlife corridors
- Changing “light fixtures” to “luminaires” in the text