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Updated: May 4, 2009, 9:30 pm	Share    Print    Email

The Southampton Town Board, led by Councilwoman Nancy Graboski, unveiled their own draft Dark Skies legislation after nearly two years of deliberation and a firm commitment to the International Dark Sky Movement. Satellite image courtesy of Google Images

Southampton - First there was darkness, and then there was light. Then there was darkness again as the bright lights of the big cities dimmed our view of the heavens above giving rise to the Dark Sky Movement and hopefully the end of light pollution.

The message was dim it down and turn it off as the Southampton Town Board led by Councilwoman Nancy Graboski unveiled its own draft Dark Sky legislation after nearly two years of deliberation and a firm commitment to the International Dark Sky Movement. The movement highlights the dangers of incessant light on the planet where darkness is needed to protect the environment. Scientists point to the disruption of nocturnal animal life, an imbalance in the ecosystem, and a disruption of necessary circadian rhythms. These rhythms, established during a 24-hour cycle composed of both light and darkness, have regulated life on the planet for thousands of years. Scientists are also reporting incidences of breast cancer and other diseases that may be caused by lack of sleep created by constant illumination.

"We need to turn the lights out," said Councilwoman Nancy Graboski. "We will save the environment, we will save energy, we will save money, we may save our lives and we will be able to see the dark sky again." Images courtesy of International Dark Sky

"We need to turn the lights out," Graboski said. "We will save the environment, we will save energy, we will save money, we may save our lives and we will be able to see the dark sky again." Graboski, a former planning board member pointed to the need to end light pollution in shopping centers, in parking lots and at town buildings where floodlights should be pointed towards the ground creating a downward beam of light rather than spilling out into the sky blinding people rather than creating illumination. Holiday lighting will be exempt from the new regulations. Recreational lighting will be permitted with guidelines while new construction will be reviewed for light spillage during the planning and approval process. Exterior lighting regulations stipulate that poles be limited to 12 ft. and 18 ft. in height. Lights must not trespass onto adjoining property. They must be beamed down and positioned to illuminate the owner's property without creating glare and light spillage onto adjoining properties.

The Dark Sky code limits usage to 100 watt bulbs in outdoor lighting. The use of lightbulbs as well as lighting fixtures that eliminate glare is included in the draft legislation. Roadside billboard lighting will also be restricted to a downward beam and low wattage. Lights out is at 11 p.m. Exemptions will be granted where safety is an issue, however, lighting on paths and sidewalks will be dimmed down or set on timers during hours of darkness.

Dark Sky advocates abhor glare which reduces rather than enhances visibility, opting instead for low wattage lights that beam down on to the walkways and sidewalks leading to parking lots and other areas where visibility enhances safety after dark.

The Dark Sky code limits usage to 100 watt bulbs in outdoor lighting.

We have come a long way from the light cast by campfires and candles to the dangerous and blinding glow of Thomas Edison's incandescent lightbulbs as governments around the world and in the region pass laws that will turn the lights out and cast us into the darkness again. This is not the beginning of a Dark Age it is the beginning of a new Era of Enlightenment.

It is also a spin-off on the on-going movement to protect the environment. Black out and go green is a new mantra for the eco-friendly as Earth Day fell in the middle of Dark Sky Week held worldwide from April 20 to April 26 this year. Earth Day Celebrations held on April 23 emphasized the importance of preserving our environment the world over.

"The Town Board has been working on this a long time," Graboski said, "we need to control the amount of light pollution in our environment and we need to do it now." Graboski's draft legislation was presented on Friday, April 24, as International Dark Sky Week was winding down. Copies of the draft legislation are available in the Town Clerk's office.

The Dark Sky Movement began in Flagstaff, AZ in 1958 when the City Council passed an ordinance banning lights that interfered with the activities of a growing number of professional astronomers who flocked to the city lured by the Lowell Observatory and the U.S. Naval Observatory's station. Flagstaff became a center for world-class astronomers when Percival Lowell arrived with his Clark telescope in 1894. Things took off from there as stargazers flocked to the desert area often described as "big sky country."

The lights of New York City can be seen for miles.

In 2001, the International Dark Sky Association designated Flagstaff as the world's first International Dark Sky City. Northern Arizona is a gathering place for hundreds of amateur astronomers and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.

On April 15, 2008, Arizona citizens marked the 50th anniversary of their ground-breaking Dark Sky legislation as they looked with pride to the burgeoning worldwide movement.

"We studied Dark Sky legislation in Riverhead and Brookhaven and also looked at laws on the books in Colorado," Graboski said. Closer to home, a shinning example of Dark Sky legislation can be found in the Village of Sagaponack where a Dark Sky legislation was among the first laws enacted by the Village Board shortly after the Village was founded and incorporated in 2005.

The northeast has given rise to many prominent astronomers where the blackness of the sea at night or the desolation of a farm field far from the maddening lights replaces the isolation and intensity of the big sky deserts of the southwest. Nantucket Island was home to the first women astrologer who went on to teach at Vassar College as she watched the Dark Sky with distinction.

In Bridgehampton, residents supported the forces of darkness in the late 1970s when the Bridgehampton Commons Shopping Center was built on Montauk Highway. Today the Commons is more imposing than it was when it was first built. The lights seem somewhat dimmer now than they did more than a quarter of a century ago, when local residents turned out in force to protest the Center, now home to T.J. Maxx and K-Mart and a host of other stores. The objection then, as now, was simply stated by the protesters. "You could see the lights all the way down to the ocean."

First there was darkness, and then there was light. "We have to turn all these lights off so we can see again," Graboski said.

Let us all look to the heavens and seek a star to guide us by. Public hearings will be held in May.