Save Our Stars

Dark Sky Friendly & Neighbor Friendly

Outdoor Lighting

Photo of the Santa Ynez Valley at night

[Photo courtesy of Inept Creations]

“What is needed is a cultural change – the expectation that an
essential part of a safe and aesthetically pleasing community is
outdoor lighting that is energy efficient, dark sky friendly and
neighbor friendly.” Susan Musgrove, SOS Member

We invite you to learn how using dark sky compliant outdoor lighting fixtures will:

• Improve your home or business lighting.
• Save money and energy.
• Enhance everyone’s view of our Valley’s night sky and its stars.
• Protect our nocturnal animals.

A.  Evaluating Exterior Lighting Fixtures & Bulbs [click this link for article]

B. What can I do about problem lights in my neighborhood?

If a neighbor’s lights are causing problems for you, please contact the Save Our Stars Committee for assistance via email: sos@we-watch.org.

Leave a telephone number and name and one of our volunteers will call you. We have found that providing information as part of a non-confrontational, informal contact can often motivate neighbors to correct the problem.

If informal contact does not resolve the problem, you can call a Code Enforcement Officer.

Code Enforcement: If there are problems with light trespass, depending on where you live, contact either city or county Code Enforcement staff. They will determine whether the outdoor lighting ordinances can be used to help correct your problem.

If in Buellton, contact Planning, 805-688-7474 and in Solvang, contact the Code Enforcement Officer, 805-688-4414 X220. If in Santa Ynez Valley townships or other unincorporated areas within the Community Plan boundaries, contact County Planning, North County Office, 805-934-6250.

PG&E has installed LED flat lens fully shielded street lights in Buellton and Solvang. But, because of height of the fixtures they may still cause problems for you. If so, you need to contact them. Before phoning its Call Center at 1-800-743-5000, obtain the pole number from the pole plus the street and nearest house number. Then report the problem and request a shield.

CALTRANS has installed flat lens streetlights at intersections with traffic signals on Highway 246 across the Valley.

C. What is the Save Our Stars Committee Doing About Light Pollution?

The long-term goal of the Save Our Stars Committee is to make the Santa Ynez Valley a “dark sky region,” as defined by International Dark Sky Association (IDA), with a nighttime sky full of visible stars. All will win – residents, astronomers, tourists and the natural world. Working since 2000, our tools for achieving this goal have been education, awards, work with local government and building professionals on outdoor lighting issues.

Education and Awards

Astronomy in the Schools

In California, science standards require astronomy in Grades 5, 8 and high school. We sponsor astronomy presentations for these grades in all the public and private schools in our Valley. Chuck McPartlin, Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit member, presents these programs and the Save Our Stars Committee provides books and instructional materials for teachers plus Planet T-shirts as prizes for randomly selected students.

Please click here to view our music video presentation “Turn the Lights Down, Please”.

Night Sky Protection Awards

The Committee periodically presents awards to all categories of buildings and installations that achieve model outdoor lighting. Awards have been given to the individuals, businesses and organization pictured below.

Community Presentations and Publications

Committee members offer presentations on Protecting the Night Sky for community groups. Free brochures and bumper stickers are available.

Please contact our committee by e-mailing sos@we-watch.org if you are interested in a presentation or any of our free items.

Work with Local Government

Outdoor lighting and sign ordinances and/or design guidelines are the primary tools for controlling outdoor lighting for new construction or remodeling projects which require governmental approval. Education can motivate other property owners to retrofit existing lighting.

Ordinances and Design Guidelines

1. The City of Buellton, as requested by our Committee, included outdoor lighting requirements in its Community Design Guidelines, adopted in 2006. However, the older sections in the Municipal Code have not been revised to reflect the updated information in the Design Guidelines. The Municipal Code section can be accessed via https://www.cityofbuellton.com, Go to Municipal Code, Title 19 Zoning, Chapter 19-04.130 Lighting.

2. The City of Solvang, as requested by our Committee, revised its Exterior Lighting Ordinance in 2006. The Save Our Stars Committee made recommendations regarding sign lighting, which were included in the 2006 and more recent Sign Ordinance Update.
https://www.cityofsolvang.com, Go to City Code, Title 10 Building Regulations, Exterior Lighting, Chapter 11-12-18 and Sign Regulation, Chapter 11-13- 4-V and 5Q.

3. Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan Area. An Outdoor Lighting Ordinance which SOS requested, is included in the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan Update, which was approved by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on October 6, 2009. It applies to the townships and other unincorporated areas of the Valley included in the Community Plan area. https://longrange.sbcountyplanning.org/planareas/santaynez/syv_cp.php.

The Outdoor Lighting Ordinance is Appendix H in this document. The Plan’s map is the first item in the Table of Contents.

4. Santa Barbara Outdoor Lighting Countywide Ordinance.   WE Watch’s SOS Committee has been working with SB County Long Range Planning since 2012 to make developing a countywide ordinance a reality.  Emergencies have made it impossible for them to do more than begin work.  SOS is working on a countywide ordinance which could be used by the County, by Buellton, Solvang and possibly other cities in our county.

5. Monitoring Use of Ordinances. SOS Committee members monitor the work of the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, the Central County Board of Architectural Review (CCBAR), the Buellton Planning Commission and the Solvang Design Review Committee and the Planning Commission for all projects involving lighting issues.

NOTE:   All of the above ordinances were adopted before information was easily available about light bulbs’ Kelvin, a measure of the warmth of their light.  Researchers and IDA recommend a Kelvin reading of 2700 K (warm) or less to protect wildlife.

6. Communication with architects, contractors, electricians.

We provide information to building industry professionals about outdoor lighting issues.

Photo credit: International Dark Sky Association

How Can I Help?

Looking at the urban photo above, you may think, “Our Santa Ynez Valley is nothing like Los Angeles.” However, light pollution has dimmed our view of the stars significantly over the years. Each family or business with non-compliant outdoor lighting makes it harder to see the stars.

Working together, we can achieve darker skies and brighter stars while preventing neighbor problems due to light pollution.

1. You can begin by correcting lighting problems on your own property.

Use the attached information, Evaluating Exterior Lighting to determine what, if any of your light fixtures, may need shields or replacement.

Some solutions are simple:

• Buy low wattage, energy efficient light bulbs when the current ones burn out. (Much lower wattages needed for fluorescent and LED light bulbs.)
• Angle lighting fixtures so light shines straight down toward the ground.
• Use as few fixtures as possible with minimum height.

To fully correct some problems you may need to:

• Buy sensors or timers for existing light fixtures.
• Buy shields for existing light fixtures or
• Replace non-shielded light fixtures with fully shielded ones.

Where can I buy fully shielded outdoor light fixtures?

Within our county, lighting and home improvement stores carry some fully shielded, architecturally attractive outdoor lighting fixtures and security fixtures. Lighting stores can order many others from online resources. In addition, hardware and electrical supply stores may carry some fully shielded security light fixtures, sensors and timers.

Online, query “ dark sky” or “dark sky compliant outdoor lighting” and you will find many retail and manufacturing firms listed. You may order directly from many of them.

If you have an extensive lighting project, you may wish to contact local lighting designers or engineers for assistance. Many local architects, landscape designers and contractors support the use of dark sky compliant fixtures required by local outdoor lighting ordinances in the Santa Ynez Valley.

2. In a positive way, educate family, friends and neighbors about neighbor friendly outdoor lighting and the benefits of dark skies with bright stars.

3. Contribute to W.E. Watch’s Astronomy in the Schools Fund to buy student T-shirts and instructional items. (W.E. Watch, P.O. Box 830, Solvang CA 93464)

4. Join WE Watch and its Save Our Stars Committee.

E. Glossary

1. Light pollution: Any adverse effect of human made light (See 2,3,4).

2. Glare: Light shining into the eye that results in discomfort or reduced visual performance and visibility.

3. Light trespass: Artificial light that produces unnecessary and/or unwanted illumination of another property.

4. Sky glow: Brightening of the night sky due to man-made lighting.

5. Safety: Freedom from the risk of injury.

6. Security: Protection from criminal activity.

7. Fully shielded light fixture: fixtures, with a solid barrier, that emit no light rays above the horizontal plane and effectively obscure the visibility of the bulb (lamp). Describes “dark sky compliant” light fixture.

8. Lumen: Amount of light emitted by a light bulb (lamp).

9. Watt: Amount of electrical energy used by a light bulb (lamp).

10. Full Cutoff: Recessed to horizontal angle of at least 90 degrees.  Bulb will be recessed further into the cap than in a fully shielded light fixture.

2/16/2021

F. More Information

For more information about fully shielded light fixtures and why it is so important to prevent light pollution, visit the International Dark Sky Association’s website: https://www.darksky.org

We endorse the IDA’s mission: To preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.

WE Watch and the Save Our Stars Committee sponsor the Santa Barbara County Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). Other chapters in CA are California/Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego and Santa Cruz.

Also, the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, www.sbau.org, has helpful astronomy information and links.