A.
Purpose
1.
To require and set minimum standards for outdoor lighting to:
a.
Provide lighting in outdoor public places where public health, safety
and welfare are potential issues.
b.
Protect drivers and pedestrians from the glare of non-vehicular light
sources that shine into their eyes and thereby impair safe traverse.
c.
Protect neighbors and the night sky from nuisance glare and stray
light from poorly shielded, aimed, placed, applied or maintained light
sources.
d.
Promote efficient design and operation with regard to energy conservation.
e.
Protect and retain the established character of the County.
B.
Applicability
1.
Outdoor lighting shall be required for safety and personal security
for uses that operate during hours of darkness where there is public
assembly and traverse, including but not limited to the following
uses: residential developments for multi-family dwellings or single-family
attached dwellings, commercial, industrial, public-recreational and
institutional.
2.
Outdoor lighting may be required for other uses or locations, as
deemed necessary by the Planning Commission.
3.
The glare-control requirements herein contained apply to lighting
in all above-mentioned uses as well as, but not limited to, sign,
architectural, landscape, recreational and marine facility lighting.
4.
Exemptions:
a.
Temporary use of low wattage lighting for public festivals, celebrations,
and seasonal or holiday observances.
b.
Temporary emergency lighting used by a public safety agency during
an emergency.
c.
Temporary lighting for community celebrations or events.
d.
Temporary lighting for County or State public works projects.
e.
Outdoor lighting for single-family detached dwellings.
f.
Temporary lighting used for private emergencies.
g.
Temporary lighting used for construction with an approved building
permit.
h.
Flag pole lighting, provided it is not a safety hazard.
5.
Non-conforming Lighting
a.
Any light fixture or lighting installation lawfully existing on the
effective date of these regulations (05/01/06) that does not conform
with the requirements of these regulations, shall be considered as
a lawful nonconforming use subject to the following:
i.
A non-conforming light fixture or lighting installation shall
be made to conform with the applicable requirements of these regulations
when:
C.
Definitions
Definitions for the terms used within this Section of the Zoning
Ordinance can be found in Article 12, Definitions.
D.
Criteria
1.
Illumination Levels
a.
Lighting, where required or permitted by these regulations, shall
have intensities and uniformity ratios in accordance with the current
recommended practices of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North
America (IESNA) as contained in the IESNA Lighting Handbook or separately
in IESNA Recommended Practices.
b.
As the County recognizes future editions, amendments or updates to
said IESNA Lighting Handbook/recommended practices of the IESNA, any
outdoor light fixture or lighting installation that was installed
in conformance with the IESNA Lighting Handbook that was in effect
at the time shall become a non-conforming use and shall be subject
to the Zoning Ordinance, Section 6-6.01.B. 5, Non-conforming Lighting.
2.
Lighting Fixture Design
a.
Fixtures shall be of a type and design appropriate to the lighting
application.
b.
For lighting horizontal tasks such as roadways, sidewalks, paths,
entrances and parking areas, fixtures shall be aimed straight down,
shall have flat lenses and shall meet IESNA full cutoff criteria,
or shall meet the design standards of the Town Center Zoning Ordinances.
c.
The use of floodlighting, spotlighting, wall-mounted fixtures, internally
illuminated decorative globes and spheres and other fixtures not meeting
IESNA full-cutoff criteria, shall be permitted only with the approval
of the Planning Commission or its designee, on a case-by-case basis,
based upon achievement of the purpose of the Outdoor Lighting Regulations
stated in Section 6-6.01.A.1.a. through e. Glare control may include,
but is not limited to, refractive globes and internal cutoff refractors.
d.
Fixtures shall be equipped with light directing and/or shielding
devices such as shields, visors, skirts or hoods to redirect offending
light distribution and/or to reduce direct or reflected glare.
e.
NEMA-head (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) fixtures,
a.k.a. "barn lights"/" dusk-to-dawn lights"/" security yard lights"
that are non-cutoff or wall packs that are non-cutoff shall not be
permitted except for use in agricultural activities. NEMA-head fixtures
that are full cutoff and wall packs that are full cutoff shall be
permitted.
3.
Control of Nuisance and Disabling Glare
a.
In no case shall the illumination cast by a source or sources onto
an adjacent residential property exceed 0.1 horizontal footcandle
measured line-of-site, from any point on the adjacent residential
property.
b.
All outdoor lighting on commercial, industrial, County Government,
recreational, or institutional property, or residential developments
for multi-family dwellings or single-family attached dwellings or
used for marine facilities shall be aimed, located, designed, fitted
and maintained so as not to present a hazard to drivers, pedestrians,
or boat operators by impairing their ability to safely traverse and
so as not to create a nuisance by projecting or reflecting light onto
a neighboring use or property. All outdoor light fixtures shall be
full cutoff except as noted in paragraph 'D.2'.
c.
All outdoor lighting fixtures that light the area under outdoor canopies
shall be flat lens so that no light is emitted above a horizontal
plane passing through the lowest point of the light-emitting element,
so that direct light emitted above the horizontal plane is eliminated.
In addition, luminaires mounted beneath canopies shall be recessed
so that the lens cover is recessed or flush with the bottom of the
surface (ceiling) of the canopy and/or shielded by the fixture or
the edge of the canopy so that light is cut-off at less than 90 degrees.
Luminaires shall not be mounted on the top or sides (fascias) of the
canopy, and the sides (fascias) of the canopy shall not be illuminated.
Outdoor canopies include, but are not limited to, the following applications:
d.
Externally illuminated signs and billboards shall be lighted by fixtures
mounted at the top of the sign and aimed downward or can be ground-mounted
provided that they have glare shields. All such fixtures shall be
so designed or fitted to concentrate the light output onto and not
beyond the sign or billboard.
e.
Directional fixtures, e.g., floodlights or spotlights, for such applications
as facade, fountain, feature, recreational and landscape illumination
shall be aimed so as not to project their output beyond the objects
intended to be illuminated.
f.
Vegetation screens shall not be employed to serve as the primary
means for controlling glare. Rather, glare control shall be achieved
through the use of such means as cutoff fixtures, shields and baffles,
and appropriate application of fixture mounting height, wattage, aiming
angle and fixture placement.
4.
Installation
a.
Electrical feeds for fixtures mounted on poles shall run underground,
not overhead, except for temporary lighting as specified in paragraph
'B.4' of this Section.
b.
Poles supporting lighting fixtures for the illumination of parking
areas and located directly behind parking spaces, shall be placed
a minimum of five (5) feet outside paved area, curbing or tire stops,
or on concrete pedestals at least thirty (30) inches high above the
pavement, or suitably protected by other approved means.
c.
The top of fixtures meeting IESNA full-cutoff criteria shall not
be mounted in excess of thirty-two and a half (32.5) feet above finished
grade. The top of fixtures meeting IESNA "cutoff" criteria shall not
be mounted in excess of sixteen (16) feet above grade. Sports field
and sports court lighting is exempt from these height restrictions.
5.
Maintenance
Lighting fixtures and ancillary equipment shall be maintained
so as to meet the requirements of these regulations.
E.
Plan Submission
1.
For applications where site lighting is required or proposed, lighting
plans shall be submitted to the Department of Planning & Zoning
for review and approval prior to approval of the detailed site development
plan, plot plan, or building permit, and shall include:
[Amended 6-9-2020 by Ord. No. 14-20]
a.
A site plan, complete with all structures, parking spaces, building
entrances, traffic areas (both vehicular and pedestrian), vegetation
that might interfere with lighting, and adjacent uses that might be
adversely impacted by the lighting, and a layout of all proposed fixtures
by location, mounting height and type. The submittal shall include
in addition to area lighting, architectural lighting, building-entrance
lighting, landscape lighting, etc.
b.
Description of the proposed equipment, including fixture catalog
cuts, photometrics, glare reduction devices, lamps, on/off control
devices, mounting heights, pole foundation details and mounting methods.
A pole foundation detail is to be provided on the plan.
c.
10 feet x 10 feet illuminance-grid (point-by-point) plot of maintained
footcandles, carried out to 0.0 footcandles, which demonstrates compliance
with the light trespass, intensity and uniformity requirements as
set forth in these regulations. The maintenance (light-loss) factor
used in calculating the illuminance levels shall be documented on
the plan.
2.
Post-approval alterations to lighting plans or intended substitutions
for approved lighting equipment shall be either:
a.
Submitted to the Department of Planning & Zoning for review and
approval prior to the alteration or substitution; or
b.
The applicant shall submit a statement from the manufacturer certifying
compliance of construction and performance of the specified fixtures.
Substitutions shall comply with the Outdoor Lighting Regulations.
A note to that effect shall be placed on the lighting plan.
F.
Post Installation Inspection
1.
The County reserves the right to conduct a post-installation nighttime
inspection to verify compliance with the requirements of these regulations,
and if appropriate, to require remedial action at no expense to the
County. A note to that effect shall be placed on the lighting plan.
G.
Violations, Penalties, and Enforcements
Refer to Section 1-7 of the Zoning Ordinance.
H.
Modifications
Where in the case of a particular lighting application, it can
be shown that strict compliance with the IESNA lighting intensities
and uniformity ratios would result in extraordinary hardship to the
applicant because of unusual topography, shape of the parcel, specialized
use, existing lighting, or other such non-self-inflicted condition,
or that these conditions would result in inhibiting the achievement
of the objectives of these regulations, the Planning Commission may,
after consultation with appropriate agencies (such as the Departments
of Economic Development, Public Safety, Public Works, and Planning
& Zoning, and the Division of Inspections & Permits), vary,
modify, or waive the requirements, provided, however, that such variance,
modification or waiver will not have the effect of nullifying the
intent and purpose of this regulation or interfere with carrying out
the Comprehensive Plan of Calvert County. In no case shall any variation
or modification be more than the minimum easing of the requirements
and in no instance shall it conflict with any zoning ordinance or
zoning map. In granting variances and modifications, the Planning
Commission may require such conditions as will, in its judgment, secure
substantially the objectives of the requirements so varied or modified.
I.
Measurement Instrument.
The light meter used for verification of illuminance levels
shall be certified by the manufacturer as meeting National Institute
of Standards and Technology (N.I.S.T.) standards for light meters.
J.
Effective Date
These regulations shall become effective immediately upon enactment.
