09/22/2015 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Including or Not Including Dunes in Area of Illumination Restrictions When the Board of County Commissioners directed staff to draft revisions to the sea turtle protection lighting regulations, that direction included a recommendation that the area of restricted illumination be extended beyond the beach and include the area of dunes as well. On that issue, staff's position is that including dunes in the area of illumination restrictions would: • Be inconsistent with the state model ordinance.and with other local ordinances statewide, which consistently refer to the beach (only) and not to the dune as the area of restricted illumination. (Inclusion of the dune area does not appear to be necessary to provide adequate protection, based on the model ordinance); • Effectively eliminate the allowance of any lighting within or immediately adjacent to dune areas, such as dune crossover lighting or yard edge lighting, including low profile shielded luminaries in or adjacent to dune areas; and • Be problematic from an enforcement access standpoint, in that the beach area is generally accepted as a public/accessible space and is the area of regular monitoring, whereas private dune areas are not. For those reasons, staff does not support inclusion of the dune in the area of restricted illumination. Moreover, the PZC voted at its hearing on June 11, 2015 to recommend the Board not include the dune area. Consequently, the proposed ordinance does not include dunes in the area of restricted illumination. Other Proposed Revisions In drafting the ordinance amendment, staff has taken the opportunity to clarify certain sections of the code and to revise certain aspects beyond the definition of illuminate and how it is applied and measured. Those other revisions include: • Clarification that tinted or filmed glass visible transmittance is measured from center-of-glass, consistent with the building code; and • Revisions to the "purpose" section to reference potential impacts of artificial lighting on adult sea turtles as well as hatchlings, consistent with scientific findings, and to reference the County's Sea Turtle Habitat Conservation Plan; and • Revisions to beachfront lighting approval procedures to require building contractors to certify compliance with beachfront lighting standards, subject to inspection verification by county staff, consistent with building inspection procedures. Consistency with Comprehensive Plan Policies County Comprehensive Plan Conservation Element Policy 7.8 provides that the County will apply sea turtle protection lighting criteria for beachfront development in'the unincorporated county. The proposed LDR amendment is consistent with Conservation Element Policy 7.8 and does not conflict with the public interest or any other LDRs. I 5 ' 227